Surprises
by Bobby-John09
Summary: Okay bearwith me here this is my first Castle fanfic, post Always. After their night together Caskett begin a new relationship and gain a few surprises along the way. Hope you enjoy. :D
1. Chapter 1 Confirmation

After yesterday's weather being so dreadful Rick was surprised when he saw sunlight peeping through his bedroom window the next day. He turns from his side onto his back and still can't believe the events of the night before. How Kate turned up on his doorstep practically saying she loved him, their passionate kisses, him seeing her scar for the first time and her leading him to his bedroom.

As he looks at her he sees the sun dancing on her glowing bare back with a simple sheet lying loosely on her bare back from the waist down. He turned onto his right side so he could lightly touch her skin to make sure she was real, as light as a feather he rubs her bare arm to ease her awake.

Her eyes fluttered for a little bit, and then she remembered where she was and who she was with. She looked up at him with a big smile and he gave her a tender kiss on the lips and then moved back to show his smile.

"Morning" He said as he pushes a strand of her hair behind her ear.

"Morning Rick" She said with a slight whisper. Kate puts her hand around to the back of his head and pulled him in for a deep passionate kiss. She rolled over and pulled Rick on top of her. Then all of a sudden their long passionate kiss was soon interrupted by a closing of the front door.

"Dad! I'm home!" Alexis shouted as she walked into the living room expecting her dad to be up.

"Alexis!" Castle whispered to Kate, who was underneath him. "Hey Alexis just give me a couple of minutes!" Castle shouted.

He rolled off Kate on to the other side of his bed; he got up and got his boxers that were on the floor. He then passed Kate his shirt to slip on and he grabbed his slacks from the night before. "So are you gonna tell her…. About us?" Kate asked while she was reaching for her underwear.

"Yeah…. I mean if you want to go public well as far as Alexis…" He drifted off looking at her as she's aligning the shirt to the midline of her body.

She walks around the bed to him and wraps her arms around his neck and dives in for a soft tender kiss on the lips. "Rick all I want is to be with you….. And Alexis is part of that package so…. Let's go tell her about us." She says smiling at him. He pulls her in for a kiss and she eases away. She entwines her fingers in his and pulls him out of his room into the study.

When they came out of the study Alexis was sitting at the kitchen counter with a glass of orange juice in one hand and an apple in the other.

"Hey…. Alexis, we need to talk to you….." Castle said hesitantly.

"We…?" Alexis said confused. "Who's we?" Then she saw Detective Beckett come out behind her dad holding his hand, simply dressed in his shirt.

"Hey… Alexis…. Congratulations on your graduation….." She said trying to make the situation less awkward. Alexis couldn't help but look from Beckett to her dad and back.

"Alexis… Pumpkin….. Umm Kate and I are together now…. You know as a couple." He said a bit worried about her reaction, since he knows that half the time he is confiding in his mother, she was eavesdropping. "Are you okay with this pumpkin?"

"Uh… Yeah… You guys just…. took me by surprise… I'm…. I'm happy for you" she said as she walked up to give her dad a hug. Alexis then pulled away from the hug to look at Kate. "Please just don't hurt him….." She said with a worried shaky voice.

Kate slid her arm around Castle's back and he put his arm around her neck and her shoulders. Beckett looked up to Castle and looked into his eyes. "I'd never dream of it." Kate simply said. Rick tilted his head down and kissed Kate on the head. Kate embraced the kiss and the looked back to Alexis. "Never" she said reassuringly to Alexis.

"Okay," Alexis goes into hug Kate and her dad, "Welcome to the family I guess."

Castle smiles at his two girls and then one of his rare excellent ideas came to his head. "Breakfast?"

"Ooooh, dad can we have pancakes?" Alexis asked with excitement. Kate and Rick looked at each other with a smile on their faces as soon as Alexis said pancakes. Kate let out a little giggle and then she stopped herself before Alexis noticed.

"Definitely, then you can tell us all about your night last night." Castle said as he put his arms around Kate and Alexis. Alexis sat back in her seat with an empty glass of orange juice; Kate took the empty glass and looked up to Alexis with a smile.

"Do you want another glass?" Kate asked genuinely.

"Yes please" Alexis said politely, smiling back at Kate. Kate also grabbed the finished apple core and dropped it in the rubbish bin, on the way to the fridge.

Rick turned around and watched his two girls getting along so well. He turns back to his pancakes about to flip them. Kate came up behind him and put her arms around him and gently gave him a tender kiss on his neck, and whispered in his ear, "I love you."


	2. Chapter 2 Thank you Always

"Okay, excuse me for a minute, while I'll just slip on some pants." Kate said after she turned away from Castle and towards his daughter.

"Aww, do you have to?" He asked in a whining childish voice. He knew it was best since she was about to have breakfast with his daughter in his shirt she slipped on.

"I think its best Castle." She said smiling at him. Although she was right he had to look at her amazing legs one more time before they were covered in the jeans he took off her just only some hours ago. He turned back to pancakes and flipped the last batch.

"Dad….?" Alexis asked sweetly.

"Yes pumpkin?" He answered happily but a bit concerned with what she is about to ask. He turns the frying pans element off and brings the pancakes to the kitchen counter on a plate.

"Dad, you are happy with Detective Beckett right?"

"Yes….. absolutely. I couldn't be happier at this moment; I have two amazing beautiful girls with me and I love them both equally." He said with the biggest smile on his face as he leant over and kissed her on the forehead.

"Just don't get hurt please dad, I won't be here to pick up the pieces like the other times with our laser tag duels." She said more worried than before.

"Hey listen to me, I won't get hurt by Kate and I won't hurt her either, it's a two way street and we love each other. Please be happy for me….." he said a bit hurt.

"I am dad, really but I just want to make sure you're happy." She said smiling at him.

He smiled. He pulled Alexis into a hug. "Extremely" he whispered.

"Okay" she whispered back.

"Now you dig in, I'll just see if Kate needs help… hehe" He said with a bit of excitement.

"EW… dad too much information" she said smiling as she reaches for a pancake.

He just laughed as he walked into his study and he sees her sitting on his bed. "Hey do you need any help?" he said laughing as he is walking into his room. Then he noticed something was up and slightly jogged to her side. "Hey what's wrong?" he asked wanting to know what was upsetting her.

"Rick…" she said looking up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Please don't tell me you're regretting this…. Us…" he said worried as hell.

"No… Rick… Never, I love you and nothing will change my mind. It's just…" she trailed off and handed him her phone. He looked down at the screen and it read. _22 Missed calls_ and underneath that it read _15 new text messages_.

"Who's trying to get a hold of you?" He asked concerned.

"Ryan, Espo, Lanie, most likely Gates." She answered quietly.

"Why, why are they trying to get hold of you and why are you ignoring them?" He asked, full of questions.

"I…" she said looking away from him and out the window. "I didn't exactly tell you everything about what happened yesterday." She said looking back at him.

"You know you don't have to tell me until your ready…" he said not wanting her to be uncomfortable and rushing into telling him anything. "How about, you tell me tonight over dinner."

"No Rick… I need to tell you now… it's not fair on you."

"Hey Dad are you guys gonna join me or what?" Alexis said walking into his room, "Oh sorry I didn't know, sorry I'm interrupting." She looks between her dad and Detective Beckett, "I'll leave you to it" she said, and then she turns around and leaves her dad's room.

"I don't mind really, we'll have dinner tonight and then we can talk. Okay" he said smiling at her pulling Kate into a hug. He puts his chin on her head and she nestles her head in the arch of his neck. They sat there for a minute then he leans his head down to kiss her on the head. "Come on lets go eat my thank you for last night" he said with a smile. Kate couldn't help but to laugh she looked up to him with the biggest smile she has ever had and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you…" she whispered.

"Always"


	3. Chapter 3 The full story

The breakfast with Alexis went by quickly. After breakfast Alexis went to bed, she was shattered after her big graduation party with her friends from school. Rick and Kate were doing the dishes, although there weren't many dishes, it took longer than it should've since Castle couldn't keep his hands off his partner. When they finally finished the dishes Kate turned into Castle's lips, her hands moved around his neck and he lifted her up onto the kitchen bench. All Kate could think about was him and couldn't help but think; _we are making out on his kitchen bench, sooner or later he will make a joke out of this…_.

-Briiingbriing, Briiingbriing-

Their deep passionate kiss was interrupted by Castle's phone.

"I believe it's for you..." Kate said while she hands his phone to him. He kissed her one more time before answering it.

"Castle…" He said as he answered his phone. He was listening to the person on the other line, while Kate was tormenting him by leaving soft little tender kisses on his neck trailing up to his jawline. Going to his free ear and nibbling it while he was on the phone. "Uha…" he said feeling extremely distracted. He quickly snapped out of it knowing that he would soon be doing the same to her. "Sure, she's right here… I believe it's for you…" he said with a cheeky smile on his face, while handing her the phone.

Kate looked confused but still took the phone. "Hello?" She simply answered while Castle was doing the exact thing to Beckett. "Oh Ryan… Hey what's up…?" By now Castle was nibbling on her ear and then started gently kissing her cheek bone. "Oh umm… yeah sure maybe about in an hour…" She said extremely distracted, but not by what Castle was doing but by what Ryan had said over the phone and what she just agreed to. "Okay see you then, bye" Kate said she then hung up the phone and gave it back to Castle.

"What was that about…?" Castle asked full of curiosity.

"Gates wants me to go in, to… confirm my resignation and sign off on some paperwork."

"Wait you resigned? That's why everyone was trying to talk to you…"

"Yeah…" she said quietly, hanging her head. Rick put his finger under her chin to slowly lift her head up, for her to look him in the eyes. When his eyes met hers he could see tears peering through her eyes wanting to escape. "Come on, let's go sit and talk about it…" he grabbed her hand as she hopped of the kitchen bench. They held hands when they walked into the living room and he took a seat. He put his arms on the back of the couch as Kate sat down next to him, with her elbow against the back of the couch and her hand in her hair.

He turns to look her in the eyes when she starts to tell him.

"Well, where do I begin…?" She asked quietly.

"How about what happened when I left… You know when I was at Alexis' graduation…"

She looked down, then back up to him mouthing the word _okay_.

"Well, we tracked down Maddox's apartment, I told Ryan to stay at the office and not to tell Gates where we were, while Esposito and I went to his apartment…" She stopped to take a breath, reliving what happened was hard but he deserved to know. She then continued, bracing herself with what to come. "Then when we got there, we found all of Montgomery's files and his wedding photos, that's when we noticed that he wasn't looking for something but someone. We were about to leave with the files when he came back. He knocked Espo out and we fought." She paused to see his reaction, but there wasn't one that she could see. She was about to start talking again when he said something.

"That explains all the bruises on your body…" He trailed off.

"Yeah…" she quietly, close to a whisper. She looked at him seeing the pain in his eyes. She then continued. "Then he ran up to the roof and I chased him, I got to the roof and I had my gun out… he caught me by surprise and we struggled." She stopped for a minute and squeezed her eyes. Rick put his arm around her to comfort her and show his support, that he's there for her… Always. "After we struggled… he… he… threw me to the side and I fell off the building and I…" She paused not wanting to relive the faithful moment that has traumatised her. "I was hanging off the side of the building… he came and looked over at me… then he just walked away… left me hanging…"

"Wait…" he interrupted, "he just left you hanging?"

"Yeah…"

"Kate… I'm sorry… I should have been there I shouldn't have just left you…"

"Hey… hey…" she place her hand on his face and turned his face to look at her. "It's not your fault… and if you were there, I couldn't have lived with myself if you were hurt…" She looked him in the eye and then gently gave him a kiss on the forehead.

He simply nodded. "What else happened?" He asked in a whisper.

"I was hanging there… thinking about you then I heard someone shout my name and I immediately thought it was you… I shouted your name so you knew where I was and my fingers slipped and… Ryan pulled me up."

"I owe him anything he wants… I will buy him anything…" Castle muttered under his breath.

Kate just looked at him and rolled her eyes at him. She then continued. "Then, I looked behind Ryan and there she was…. Gates was standing there looking at me… with her hands on her hips just shooting daggers at me with her eyes…"

Castle just sat there staring at her with grave concern on his face.

"Then…" Kate continued, "We went back to the station and she lectured us… about how we should be honoured to wear the badge, but I knew what was coming…"

"What…?" he asked curious, his curious face looked quite cute.

"She suspended me and Espo, but I looked at my badge and said keep it I resign… so that's what happened I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner…"

"Hey… you needed time to say it…" He said pulling her into a hug, "I'm just glad you're here, with me, so we can finally be together…" he turned his head and kissed her on the head.

"What if I can't do it… what if I don't know how to be just Kate?"

"You will figure it out… and I'm here if you need me, I'm in this with you to the end. And if you don't want to give it up then I will be there helping you solve murders… if Gates lets me… if not I'll pull the mayor on her again."

He looked down and heard a little laugh from her she then looked up and he wiped a tear away from her eye. "Yeah I would like that…" she said smiling at him.

"Okay… come on then let's go" he took her hand and pulled her off the seat. He quickly wrote a note for Alexis telling her where he is, while Beckett grabbed a shirt for him, their coats and their shoes.

Then he grabbed her hand and went out the door.


	4. Chapter 4 The Resignation

The elevator door opened and Rick grabbed her hand when they exited and walked into the precinct. They saw Ryan sitting at his desk, alone and he looked depressed, until he saw Beckett and Castle. Then his face changed from depressed to apologetic. He jumped up when he saw them going towards his desk.

"Hey, Ryan." Beckett said smiling at him thinking about how he saved her life.

"Hey Beckett look…" He started but then Beckett interrupted him with a hug. She pulled away and rubbed his arm with a thankful look.

"Ryan, thank you so much for saving my life yesterday. I owe you… if it wasn't for you I wouldn't be here today." She said looking up at Castle and resting her head on his shoulder. He then leant down and softly kissed her on the cheek.

Ryan stood there looking at them with a smile on his face, "I did what I felt was right… but Javi is still mad at me."

"Beckett" They all turned to look at Gates standing in her office doorway. Kate gave Rick a kiss on the cheek and gave Ryan a smile.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Castle asked.

"No, I'll be fine, keep Ryan company." She said smiling; she turns away and walks towards Gates' office. She stops before she enters the office and takes a deep breath, and then she walks in with the door shutting behind her.

"Please, sit down." Gates said, gesturing to the chair in front of the desk. "Now, here is the paperwork, please sign where it is tagged and then your resignation would be final."

Gates passed the pen to Kate and she took it, Kate held the pen in her hand for a minute and then placed it on the desk. She looked outside into the precinct and saw Rick laughing with Ryan, as well as thanking him for saving her life.

She looked back at Gates with tears appearing in her eyes, she looks down at the papers in front of her and then looks at Gates. "I… I don't think I can do it…" she said hesitantly.

"Beckett," Gates started, moving her glasses away from her face and looked at Kate with a gentle face. "You, are one of our most valuable detective this precinct has, it is a shame to see you resign, I personally want to see to live out your suspension and come back stronger as ever or I could give you a few days to think it over and come back and sign the papers…"

"No…" Kate interrupted, No disrespect, sir, but I can't do this, I have spent so long being here, being Detective Beckett, but I don't know who Kate is anymore, I haven't seen her in a long time and this place is home. I have decided… I'm gonna stay, I will go through with my suspension, but I will come back."

Gates had a smile on her face and she looked out of her office window. "Don't you think you should discuss this with him." She said pointing to Castle.

"I will." Kate said with her head looking down.

"But, to make sure you have thought this through I will still give you a few days for you and Castle to talk this through, nothing is decided until then okay?"

"Yes, Sir…" Kate said as she gazed out the window at Castle, he caught her glimpse and gave her a small smile.

"You can go if you like." Gates said to Kate with a soft smile.

"Thank you, sir." Kate got up from her chair and left the office.

Rick was still talking to Ryan when Kate came up behind him with wrapping her arms around him and gently kissed him on the cheek. "Hey," he said smiling. He turns around halfway meeting Kate; he leans down and kissed her gently on the lips. "Are we done here?"

"Yep," she said wondering how she was gonna tell him. "We need to talk about it though, over lunch maybe?"

"Yeah sure, ah Ryan would you like to join?" Castle asked not wanting to exclude him.

"Oh nah, it's fine, I gotta try explaining myself to Javi…" he looks down to the floor while he tries to catch the air in his throat. "If he would even answer the phone or his door… anyway you too have fun." Ryan said trying not to show his weakness.

"Ryan…" Kate started; she pulled him into a hug and pulled away, "Don't worry, he will be back soon, I'll sort it out by explaining to him okay."

"Yeah, okay, ah… Thanks Beckett."

"No problem, you sure you don't wanna join us?" she asked worried about him.

"Nah, nah I'll be fine, you too have fun." He said forcing a smile.

"Okay…" Kate said. Ryan gestured his hands in a shooing motion to Kate and Rick they turned around smiling at each other and then turned to Ryan. "Bye, Ryan." Kate and Rick called out almost in unison.

"Yeah okay seeya." He said as he turned around and walked to his desk.

Kate and Rick stood at the elevator door waiting for it to open. Since it was by far the slowest elevator Rick could have possibly imagined yet he used the time as an advantage. He slid his arms around Kate's waist and kissed her cheek. Kate giggled and was looking down ad his hands around her waists. He burrows his face in the arch of her neck and the elevator doors open.

"What the hell is going on here?"

The both looked up to a familiar face in the elevator. When they looked up they saw Lanie standing in the elevator looking at them with big eyes and her mouth gaping.

"Lanie," Kate said she then steps away from standing in front of Castle to his side and grabs his hand as a sign to Lanie that they were together. "Hi…" Kate said nervously, she pulled strand of hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ear.

"Don't you 'hi' me girl, how long has this been going on for?" she started to interrogate Kate; Rick could see Kate was feeling a bit uncomfortable so he stepped in for her.

"Last night," Lanie and Kate looked at him with surprise. He thinks they forgot he was there, but he continued. "This has been going on since last night. You know if you like you are welcome to come have lunch with us."

"No sorry, I can't." Lanie said surprised that Castle stepped in for her best friend. "I have work to do…" she looks to Kate, "And you and I are gonna have a little chat tomorrow." She said with a stern playful look on her face, Kate was holding back a smile by biting on her lip. Lanie then left them with a goodbye and left towards Ryan.

Kate dragged Rick into the elevator, as the door closed she pulled him into a deep passionate kiss and cupped her hands on his face. He slid his hand on her waist and pulled her closer. Rick pulled away for a second, he looked to the side, he had realised that the doors were closed but he hadn't pressed the button. He reaches over and presses the 'G' button for the ground level. He turns back to Kate and continued with kissing Kate.

Time flew when all of a sudden elevator bell had rung and they were on the ground floor. He pulled away as the doors flung open with an arm sliding around her waist as they exit the elevator and the building of the 12th precinct. Kate rests her head on his shoulder and they walk off to lunch.


	5. Chapter 5 The Lunch Date

Chapter 5-The Lunch Date

The door opens and Rick holds it back for Kate as she carries the food to the kitchen. He closes the door and makes his way to the kitchen to get the plates out. Kate gets a couple of wine glasses out of the cupboard and places them on the counter next to the food. In the meantime Rick has gotten the red wine out of the fridge.

"Mmm, smells good." Kate said as she wrapped her arms around his waist and tilted her head to kiss his back.

"Yeah, and it's not the only thing that smells good too." He said as he spun around, leaning up against the bench and kissed her on the lips. When he pulled away and moved her hair away from her face and tucked it back behind her ear. She had her hands on his chest with his arms around her. She looked up at him with a massive smile and a glitter in her eye. "You know, we can always skip lunch and go to my bedroom?"

Kate thought about what she wanted to tell Rick. Then she decided just to leave it to later. "But, wouldn't the food get cold." She asked knowing he would come up with some excuse.

"We can just reheat it." He said with a cheeky smile on his face. Kate just smiled and rolled her eyes playfully. She grabbed Castle bye the collar of his shirt and pulled him towards her. She passionately kissed him and when they pulled away from each other Rick picked up Kate and she wrapped her legs around his waist.

Kate couldn't help but laugh, she then lent down and passionately kissed him on the lips and playfully bit his lip. They kept crashing into walls while he was kissing and carrying Kate to his bedroom. He put Kate down and pushed her up against the bookshelf in his study and the books fell to the floor on the other side. He took her top off and she unbuttoned his shirt. She hurriedly removed his shirt from his back and started to unbuckle his belt. When she removed the belt from his jeans he took her by the hand and took her into the study, then into his bedroom. He spun her around so that his back would face the bed.

He fell back onto the bed and she crawled on top of him and rubbed her hands down his legs and pulled down his pants. She then started kissing her way up his chest and to his lips. They rolled over so now she was on the bed and he was on top of her. He moved from her lips down her neck and across her collarbone, he lifted her up and unhooked her bra and pulled down her underwear. She also pulled down his boxers and then they fell back on the bed.

Their hips moved with each other. Kate nibbled on his ear as he started leaving a trail on kisses down her neck. He pulled her leg up to his waist as their hips were still moving together. They were going hard and fast. He lifts his head up and looks at her scar from where a bullet had impacted in her chest eleven months ago, where he first told her he loved her. He gently kissed the scar and went back to her lips. She couldn't help but let out a little sound from her lips.

"Oh" she said louder a second time. They rolled over again, with their hips still thrusting together. They went back to a deep passionate kiss and their tongues were swirling around in each other's mouths. She went down his neck and up by his ear. She lightly nibbled on his ear and licked behind his ear. She sat up on top of him and moved her hair to one side of her neck and started gently kissing the bottom of his stomach. She starts to mover her way up to his chest. She moved up his neck and back to his lips. Soon enough their hips stopped moving and she rolled of him, moving the bed sheets up to her chest.

She lay with her head on his chest and with her finger making patterns on his chest. She could feel his breathing even and his heart made a soothing rhythm that made her feel safe. He turned to look down at her and she looked up at him. He gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. When he pulled away she looked up and gave him a smile.

"That was…" he said looking at her. "Amazing, I will never get use to you being here next to me." He said looking at her with great sincerity in his eyes.

Kate nestled her head into his chest a bit more. She let out a breath and closed her eyes. "I love you." She whispered before falling asleep.

Rick just smiled and nestled his head on hers then fell asleep himself before muttering "I love you too."

**Okay so that is the first time I have written a chapter like that so I'm sorry that it was so short but I hope you all enjoyed it. A review wouldn't be missed either.**

**Thanks **


	6. Chapter 6 The DMC

**Okay so I'm lying on the couch at home, with a day off cause I'm sick. So here is chapter 6, I hope you will all enjoy it. Oh and thanks everyone for subscribing, I have just over 30 subscriptions from you guys and I was very happy. So as I said before enjoy.**

Chapter 6- The DMC

Rick woke up with an empty space next to him. As he sat up he heard laughter coming from his kitchen. He got out of bed to put his jeans on and a shirt over his head. He walked out of his room to the study and then through the study to the living room, where he sees Kate reheating their lunch and Alexis sitting at the counter with a big smile on her face.

He looked at the clock and it read that it was _6:00. _Hestarted making his way to the kitchen where Alexis was sitting. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and a smile. "Good morning, sweetheart." He said quietly.

Alexis and Kate just looked at each other with a big smile on their faces.

"What?" he asked looking between them, wanting to be let in on the joke.

"Dad," Alexis said with a smile, looking at him. "It's still the same day that it was when you and Kate went to bed." She said laughing. Kate just looked down to the three plates in front of her while placing the warmed up lunch on. She had a big smile on her face and was shaking her head.

He gets up from Alexis and moves around to Kate and puts his arms around her waists and kisses her on the cheek. Alexis looks at them and smiled.

"Hey dad I was meaning to ask you can I got to the movies with Paige today?" she asked hoping he would say yes.

"Sure, why not" he said as he dug into his jean pockets and got his wallet out, he gave her $50 and she got up from her seat and kissed him on the cheek. Soon enough she was out the door in a heartbeat. "Looks like you don't need the third plate after all." He said as he took the plate and scraped the food back into the container and loaded the pate into the dish washer.

"Hey!" Kate exclaimed. He stopped to look at her. "If you have a dishwasher, then why were we washing the dishes this morning" she said with a cheeky smile on her face.

"Easy." He said "I just wanted an excuse to lift you up on the bench." He walked back over to Kate and put his arms around her. She turned around in his arms and they were facing each other. He bent down and kissed her on the lips gently and then pulled away leaving her hanging. "So, where should we eat, living room or kitchen?"

"Hmm" she hummed while she was thinking. "I think living room. It's cosier." She said with a sparkle.

He raises an eyebrow and says "Living room it is then." He takes the plates and she takes the wine to the coffee table and they bring the table closer to the sofa they were sitting on. "So," he said as he pulls the glass of wine toward her and she grabs the glass off him and mutters thanks. "What did you want to talk to me about at lunch? You know we kinda got distracted." He said with a wink.

"Oh, that." She said looking down at the table. She takes a sip of her wine and then placed the glass back down on the table. She leant over to get her food and pulled it towards her and took a big mouthful of her food to avoid answering the question.

"Kate…" he gave her a stern look and she caved under his blue eyes.

She finished chewing and began. "Well, I was sitting in Gates' office and I… I couldn't sign the papers." She looked up at him expecting him to say something, but he stayed quiet and let her keep talking. "I just couldn't sign those papers, I… I don't know how to be just Kate anymore." She said

"She, is still, in you somewhere, you haven't fully lost her." He said looking at her with sincere concern.

"Is she?" she asked almost crying. "I mean all I know now is being a cop, I can't even remember the last thing I did without being a cop, without being with my mum… or worrying about her murder…" she stopped before she continued, she was trying to calm herself down with slow breaths, but they quickened and she couldn't breathe.

He pulled her into a hug and her breathing evened in his arms. "Ssshhh, it's okay, everything's okay." He said comforting her by rubbing his hand against her arm. She nestled her head onto his chest. She let out a big sigh and calmed down.

She looked up to him and a tear came running down her face. She was fighting back the rest of the tears, but against her will she lets them go. He wipes the tears away from her eyes. She turned her head back to the side of his chest and he was still holding her close to him.

"Will you still love me… if I weren't a cop?" she asked hesitantly. She turned again to look up to him.

"Are you kidding? Of course I will still love you Kate. Even without your gun and badge. No matter what, I will be there for you, always." He said with such sweetness and love in his voice. She believed every word he was saying.

"So what do you think I should do?" She asked ever so softly.

"I think you should follow your heart," She looked up at him with a _'really'_ look. "Yeah I know its cliché but it's true, and no matter what you choose I'll be by your side." He said with a big smile on his face.

"Really?" she said in disbelief that she has someone amazing by her side.

"Really, all I want is for you to be happy and safe, I personally think you are more safe with a gun than anything else, but that's just Me." he says as he kisses her on the forehead, "Whatever you choose, I'll be with you every step of the way."

"Thank you, for being here helping me through this." She said hesitantly.

"Always." He said as he kisses her on the nose.

"Okay," she said getting up off him and sitting up on the couch. "I… want to be a cop; will you be there with me? You know when I tell Gates, I just can't bring myself to resign… not yet anyway."

"Okay, when do you wanna go tell her?"

"Let's just wait until the few days are up, there are a few other things I'd like to do first." She said with a smile.

"Oh yeah, like what?" he asked full of curiosity.

"Like, talk to Lanie, talk to Espo, my dad, your mother," she said giving him a look when he rolled his eyes, "and… lay her a bit longer." She said as she slipped back into her original position on his chest, listening to every breath he took and listening to the rhythm of his heart beating against his chest.

"Hmm," he started, "that, we can definitely do." He said smiling at her as he kissed the top of her head and closed his eyes.

"Rick…" Kate whispered.

"Yeah," he whispered back.

"I think the food is getting cold." She said with a little giggle.

"Oh, well, I don't really feel like eating anyway, do you?" he asked. He saw Kate scrunch up her nose and shake her head. "We can pop out and get something else to eat later." He casually said.

"Mr Castle! Well I never!" Kate said in a gasp. Rick and Kate sat up, Rick staring at her in confusion. "Is this your way of asking me out on a date?" she said. He can't help but laugh.

"I guess it is." He smiled.

"Well, then I will gladly accept." She said showing him a big smile. He pulls her into a hug and kisses her on the cheek.

They get off the couch and take their full plates to the disposal and then place the empty plates into the dishwasher. They turn to each other and he pushes a strand of her hair away from her face. He gently kisses her on the lips and unwillingly pulled away. "Coffee?" he asked her.

"I thought you'd never ask." She said with another big smile. They leant in together and kissed again. He pulled her closer to him and was pulled a part by an interruption.

"Richard… I'm…" the voice stopped in mid-sentence and Rick and Kate turned to the front door.

"Mother…" Rick trailed off. The infamous Martha Rodgers was standing in the open doorway looking confused as ever.


	7. Chapter 7 Welcome to the Family

**Okay so here is the next chapter, I hope you all enjoy it. Also thank you all for your Reviews and Subscriptions it means a lot. Anyway I will let you keep reading.**

Chapter 7- Welcome to the Family.

"Mother, why aren't you in the Hamptons?" Castle asked curious and also quite nervous.

"More importantly, what happened while I was away?" Martha said while looking between Rick and Kate.

"Oh umm…" Castle started.

"Oh my," Kate interrupted. "I never thought I would live to see the day that the great Richard Castle is speechless." She said smiling at him. Kate walks up to Martha. "Hello Martha." Kate said leaning into a hug. Martha hugged her back and gave her a smile.

Rick just stood there watching his mother and his girlfriend hugging, and then he snapped back to earth when he heard Kate call his name.

"Rick!" Kate said again.

"Huh, yeah, what?" he mumbled idiotically. Kate and Martha just rolled their eyes at him.

"I said," Kate said louder for him to hear her. "Do you want to tell your mother about us or should I, I personally would like to do it together."

Rick just smiled and walked over to his mother and girlfriend. He puts his arm around Kate's waist and pulls her closer to him. "Mother," he starts, "Kate and I are together, we are happy and we would love for you to be happy for us." He said smiling, looking down on Kate, as she looked up at him smiling.

Martha could see that they were extremely happy with each other and that made her happy. "Oh, of course I'm happy for you come here." She pulled Rick into a hug and then let go and gave Kate another hug. "But, may I ask, what brought this on? I mean I knew Richard was in love with you…"

"Mother…" Rick interrupted. Kate looked at him and smiled. She loved the look on his face whenever he got embarrassed. Like when Alexis' mother came and called him kitten in the middle in the precinct.

"But, I didn't know you felt the same. I mean I had my suspicions and I could tell, that there was something going on, but what made you two, you know, take the next step and confront it?" Rick was standing there just looking at his mother, wishing she took the words back, now embarrassed for Kate.

"You don't have to answer, if you don't want to" he whispered in her air.

"No, no it's fine Castle." She muttered. "Well," she started, "I realised that I had feelings for him, roughly about four years ago," she said smiling at him and Martha. Those feelings were, kind of overpowering me I the past year, then last night, I found my sniper, long story short, I nearly died and all I could think about was your son." She said smiling at him and rests her head on his shoulder.

He smiled and pulled her into a hug; she rested her head on his chest and turned her head so it was facing Martha. He leant down and kissed her on the top of her head. Martha simply smiled and clasped her hands together.

"You know what, this, calls for a drink." She said laughing her way into the loft. She makes her way to the fridge and pulls out the beer and the wine. "Richard would you like a beer or a wine?"

"Beer for me please mother."

"And you Kate?"

"Beer as well, please, Martha." She said with a smile as her and Rick went into the kitchen with their arms around each other.

Martha is in the fridge and turns around with three beers in her hands. She walks over to the counter where Rick and Kate sat. She passed them the beers and they thanked her for them while they took the icy cold bottles from her hands. Rick and Kate twisted the top off the bottle and took a sip. They put the bottle down and looked at Martha, who was still struggling with the bottle top.

"Here Martha let me." Kate said with her hand out, gesturing for Martha to give her the bottle. She did and Kate gave it one simple twist and the bottle popped open. "There you go." Kate said passing back the bottle to Martha. As Kate lets go of the bottle the she could feel the icy cold frost from the bottle melting in her hand.

Rick just looks at them and smiles, as he puts the beer bottle to his lips and takes a swig.

"A toast!" Martha exclaimed, holding the bottle in the air, looking at Rick and Kate. They turned to each other, smile and follow Martha's motion. They turned back to Martha and watched her as she was about to perform the toast. "To Richard and Kate, I hope that you have a future full of happiness," she started.

But Rick interrupted her. "We aren't getting married mother." He said looking at her with a slight smile. Kate just laughed, while she was still holding her bottle in the air.

"Too right," Martha started again. "What I am trying to say is Welcome to the family Kate."

**So here is chapter 7 I hope you all liked it. A review would be awesome thanks.**


	8. Chapter 8 Day three

**Thanks for all the reviews and subscriptions I'm glad you all enjoy my story so far, please keep reading and I hope you all enjoy this chapter.**

Chapter 8- Day three

Kate turned over and reached on the bedside table to her loud phone.

"Beckett." She sleepily answered.

"Hey girl, so let's catch up." Lanie answered.

Kate looked at the alarm clock on Castle's side of the bed. She let out a sigh. "Lanie, its 6:30 in the morning, can we do it later?"

"No, come on girl, we need to talk about you and writer boy." Lanie said desperately wanting to know the gossip.

"Fine Lanie, give me an hour and meet me at my apartment." She said rubbing her eyes.

"Sweet, see you then girl." Lanie said just before she hung up the phone.

Kate pulled the blankets off her and went into the kitchen. She went straight to the coffee machine and started making her coffee. She grabbed two mugs from the cupboard and filled them up with the newly brewed coffee.

She walked back into Castle's room with his cup after she scoffed down hers. She places the cup down onto his bedside cabinet and walked straight into the bathroom to have a shower.

He wakes up to the sound of running water and the smell of coffee next to him. The water stops and a light peeps into his room from his bathroom. He sits up and sees Kate and he gives her a smile, as he turns on the lamp next to him. She's standing there wrapped in a towel with wet hair dripping down her chest.

"Morning." He says taking in the sight in front of him.

"Hey." She says bending over and giving him a tender kiss on the lips.

"You made coffee." He said smiling at her.

"Of course, it's not that hard, I mean I hunt murderers for a living, making coffee, is no challenge of Kate Beckett." She says with a bit of sass, she turns around and picks up her clothes and walks back into the bathroom and shuts the door.

"So what are we going to do today?" he asks through the door as he sits up to drink his coffee.

"Well, Lanie rang me this morning and she wants to catch up, so I will be meeting her at my apartment. So you should spend the day with Alexis, I'm sure she would love that." Kate said through the door.

"Sounds great." He says as she opens the door.

"Good, plus I need to get some spear clothes; I can't keep wearing the same clothes every day." She said as she pulls her hair back behind her ear.

He got up and wrapped his hands around her. "You can always wear nothing." He said looking her up and smiled.

She playfully punched his arm and kissed him on the lips. She cupped his face with her hand and their kiss lingered for a minute. She pulled away and looked at the clock.

"I have to go, get ready for Lanie." She said looking him in the eyes.

"I'll walk you out" he said smiling at her.

"Okay." She said smiling.

She grabs her bag and puts her arm around his waist. He does the same as they walk out through the study, into the living room and to the front door. When they get there she slips on her shoes and he opens the front door. He grabs her and pulls into a kiss. "Bye." He whispered.

"Bye." She whispered back fluttering her eyes up to him. She turns away and exits through the small crack of the door. Then she was gone. He shut the door and leaned against it smiling. Then he walks away into his bedroom.

There was a knock on the door and Kate walked over from her couch to answer it. She opens the door and sees her best friend standing there.

"Hey, Lanie." Kate greeted her as she stepped aside to let her through to her apartment.

"Hey girl." Lanie said as she walked in taking her coat off and placed it on the back of the couch.

Kate closed the door and turned towards the couch where her friend was standing. "So Lanie where do you want me to start?" Kate said getting straight into the conversation.

"How about how the hell did you two end up being together?" Lanie exclaimed.

"Long story." Kate whispered, she gestured Lanie to sit down and she went to sit on the couch next to Lanie.

"Keep going girl, you're not gonna get rid of me that easily." Lanie said raising her eyebrows.

"Well, I'm guessing Espo told you that we went after my sniper."

"Mhmm, and if you ask me that was incredibly stupid." Lanie said raising her eyebrows again.

"Yeah, well long story short, I nearly died and all I could think about was Castle. I showed up to his apartment soaking wet. He opened the door after I knocked and asked what I wanted, and I… said him." Kate finished. Lanie just stared at her with wide eyes and her jaw had dropped. "Lanie, you will catch flies with your mouth." Kate said laughing.

Lanie slowly closed her mouth and looked away; she then looked back at Kate who was still slightly giggling. "Well, what happened after that?" Lanie asked wanting to know everything from that night.

"Lanie, I shouldn't have to spell it out to you." Kate said laughing. "Want a drink?" Kate asks getting up from the couch and heading to her kitchen.

"No I'm fine." Lanie said getting up from the couch and heading towards Kate who was getting a glass out of the cupboard and filing it up with water. "Now the most important question." Lanie said as she leaned against the counter. Kate took a swig of her water while Lanie asked the question. "How was it?" She asked.

Kate spat out her water just missing Lanie, it reminded her when Natalie Rhodes asked her is Castle was gay. "What!" Kate exclaimed coughing and laughing at the same time.

"How was it?" Lanie repeated, "Come on girl you can tell me." She said with a slight smile.

"Um… okay, if you really want to know… it was great." As she said that Lanie's phone rang.

"Excuse me hun." Lanie said to Kate as she answered her phone. "Doctor Parish."

Kate took another sip of water and as she swallowed it she turned to the sink, go the cloth and wipe up where she accidentally spat out her water. Lanie came back into the room putting her phone into her pocket. "Sorry honey, but there has been a murder and I've got to go. "She said apologetically.

"Hey, no problem you go, I'll see you later." Kate said as she gave Lanie a hug.

Kate walked Lanie to the door and they said their goodbyes. Lanie left and Kate shut the door behind her. She turned around and couldn't help but smile. "Well that was interesting." She said to herself.

Moments later her own phone rang. "Beckett." She answered.

"Hey," Esposito said on the other line.

"Hey Espo what's up?" she asked, wanting to talk to him about Ryan.

"I was wondering if you wanna catch up?" he asked quietly.

"Sure Espo. I need to talk to about something anyway."

"Yeah, okay, but if it's about Ryan, I don't wanna know." He said harshly, yet he also sounded a bit sad.

"Come on Javi." Kate said not wanting to see her friends fight because of her.

"Fine, where should I meet you?" he asked in defeat.

"At my apartment?" she asked, she couldn't be bothered going out anywhere.

"Okay see ya in fifteen." He said as he hung up. Kate put the phone back into her pocket, as she walks over to her bookshelf and grabs _Frozen Heat, _she perches on her couch and starts reading it from where she last finished.

Fifteen minutes later there was a knock on the door. She got up and quickly walked over to answer it.

"Hey Es…" she stopped in mid-sentence to see Esposito was not there. "You." She said in surprise.

"Detective, you remember Me." said Maddox, standing in the hallway. "Can I come in?"


	9. Chapter 9 The Last Man Standing

**So thanks everyone for bearing with me. You can all let out that breath you've been holding in, here's the next chapter hope you all enjoy **

Chapter 9- The Last Man Standing.

Kate stood there, staring at the gun pointed at her face.

"Well, Detective," he said in a controlling mono-toned voice. "Are you going to let me in or what?"

"No!" Kate yelled as she tried to shut the door. He stuck his foot out, which stopped the door from closing and with his free hand he pushed the door open and slowly walked towards Kate, who at that point was slowly backing away.

Kate was defenceless, she had no advantage. He was bigger and stronger than her. Not to mention he had a gun and Gates has hers under lock and key from her suspension.

"So Detective, do you have any last words?" he asked getting closer to her, she tries to back away, but she's stopped when she backs into the wall.

Kate had no choice now but to try to escape. He was getting closer to her cornering her, leaving her with nowhere to go. "Yeah," she whispered looking him in the eyes. "This." As soon as she said that she took the risk.

She grabbed his arm that was holding the gun. She turned into his body and stepped on his foot. She then elbowed him in the face, and then she turns back out and kicks him in the stomach. In his moment of vulnerability he loosens his grip on the gun. Which Kate then takes from him.

"That wasn't half bad Detective." He laughed with blood gushing out his nose. He started to move towards Kate.

"Don't move" Kate shouted at him, pulling back the hammer.

With the gun pointing at him he starts to back away from Kate and into the kitchen area. It was now her turn to corner him. She started to get closer and closer.

"Detective may I just say that you look very sexy with a gun in your hand and a threatening look in your eye." He said with a sarcastic smile.

"You think you're all that don't you," Kate said trying to not let him hear the shakiness in her voice. She was creeping closer and closer as she was psyching him out. "You think you're a big shot because you get to play with people's lives. Well, let me tell you something, you are nothing but a low life that has nothing better to do, than take people away from their families!" Kate said, as her rage was overcoming her.

Kate was too busy psyching Maddox out that she failed to see that he grabbed a knife from her kitchen bench. She was closer to him now. He gripped the knife and in one swift movement the knife went into her stomach.

As soon as the knife entered her body, he could see the life drain out of her and her eyes going blank, as she was grasping for air. He held her upright and whispered in her ear. "Looks like I'm the last man standing." He lets go of her and she crashes to the ground.

She let go of the gun in impact to her fall. The gun sits on the floor only centimetres away from her hand. Maddox starts to walk closer to her, Kate can see that he wants to finish the job and kill her. She uses every bit of strength she has and pulls her limp body closer to the gun. She grips it just in time.

Three rounds were fired and ended up in his chest. He collapsed on the ground next to her with blood pooling around him and his eyes wide open.

Kate managed to pull herself off the floor of her apartment and set herself up against the back of the couch holding her wound as blood seeps out through her fingers. Despite the pain, she keeps pressure on her wound.

She slowly reaches the phone that's in her pocket. Just as she was about to dial her phone for the EMT's Esposito walks in the door alerted that there is a threat.

All he can see is Maddox and a massive pool of blood around him. "Beckett," he shouted, hoping she's okay, "Beckett!" he shouts even louder.

"Javi." She said close to a whisper, wincing at the pain as she tries to move her limp body up against the couch.

Immediately he steps into action, he takes off his jacket and places it on Kate's open wound. "Here," he said quietly as he knees down beside her. He places Kate's hands on the jacket, "Put pressure on this."

"Thanks." She said weakly. She leans her head up against the back of the couch while Javier takes her phone out of her hands and dials.

"Come on, come on." He said impatiently, there was finally an answer on the other line.

"Ryan."

"Hey bro, it's me Javi, I need you to bring Gates and your team here as well as the EMT's." he instructed.

"What… why?" Kevin asked concerned for his friend but happy that he was hearing from him.

"I can't answer that at the moment, you'll see when you get to Beckett's apartment," Esposito answered, "Quickly please bro." he pleaded.

"It'll be okay Javi, just hold on, we'll be there in five." As he said that they both hung up their phones.

"It's alright Kate," he said as he turned back to her. "Help is coming."

There was no answer.

"Kate!" Esposito said a bit louder still no reply, he then realised that her hands had loosened on the wound and she was losing a lot of blood.

He put pressure on her stomach with one hand and with the other he tried to gently wake her up.

She stirs as she tries to open her eyes.

"Kate, come on Kate, stay with me." He said pleading for her to wake up. He hears her muttering something. "What was that Kate?" he asks for to repeat it so he could hear her.

"Castle." She barely whispered it, but he heard.

At that moment Ryan and Gates burst into the room with other members of the team and the EMT's.

"What the Hell happened." Gates said to Ryan, who was too busy looking around for Javi and Kate.

Ryan with his gun up and ready, quickly and efficiently went behind the couch where he saw Esposito hold his Jacket on Beckett's stomach with blood on her hands and what looks to him that she's unconscious.

"We need the EMT's around here." Ryan shouted. He bent down next to Javi and took Beckett's bloody hand. She was cold, like she's been dead for hours, although her pulse was weak.

The EMT's brought in the stretcher and before they put her on it they checked her breathing and her vitals. They then lifted her on the stretcher and rolled her out within minutes of arriving.

Esposito was about to follow Kate and the EMT's when he was stopped by Gates. "Hold it." She said with her hand out to stop him. "What the hell happened here?"

"I don't know sir, I was meant to meet Beckett here, I was ten minutes late and when I did show the door was wide open, he," he said pointing to Maddox. "Was how he is now and I found Kate bleeding out."

"Okay, well you better go to the hospital, you too Ryan, the others can finish up here." Gates said with a sincere smile. The boys the left the scene of their friends apartment and were on their way to the hospital.

"I have to call Castle, she asked me to." Esposito said fumbling with his phone.

"We can, when we get there," Ryan said comforting his shocked friend.

Esposito put his phone back into his pocket and him and Ryan had left the 'crime scene' and were on their way to the hospital to see if their friend would live.


	10. Chapter 10 The Waiting

**Thank you all so much for your reviews, I'm so surprised to see how many people reviewed my story. Well here's chapter 10. Hope you all enjoy.**

Chapter 10 - The waiting.

Alexis sleepily walked down the stairs to the smell of eggs and bacon.

"Good morning Sweet heart." Rick said smiling at his daughter as he is placing the eggs on to two plates.

Alexis just smiled and gave her dad a hug. "Where's Detective Beckett?" she asked looking down at the two plates in front of her.

"Her and Lanie were meeting up, Lanie wanted Kate to spill all the gossip about us." He said raising his eyebrows while he takes a sip of his coffee.

"Hmm, sounds so scandalous." Alexis said as she took a piece of streak bacon and put it in her mouth. Rick just laughed and shook his head.

"So Alexis, what are you doing today?" he asked hoping she would didn't have anything on.

"No, why?" she asked

"Well, I was thinking maybe we can spend the day…" he was interrupted by his phone. "Sorry, I should get this." He said looking at his phone.

"Sure." She said pinching his bacon now.

"Castle." He said as he answered his phone. "Hey Ryan what's up?" he said.

Alexis saw his face fall and immediately turned worried.

"How?" he asked. He was listening to the voice on the other side and trying to fight the tears that were trying to escape his eyes. He hung up his phone and immediately dashed to the closet and grabbed his jacket and then his keys.

"Dad, what's up?" Alexis said worried.

"It's Kate," he said as he turned to his daughter. "She was attacked in her apartment."

And with that he was gone out the door with Alexis following him.

"How is she?" Castle said in a panic. He looked between Ryan and Esposito. He could see the blood on Esposito's hand. "Is that her blood?" He asked puzzled. "What the Hell happened?" he said close to shouting.

"Dad, come down." Alexis said pulling on his arm.

"Come on Castle." Ryan said taking him to a seat. Alexis followed and sat next to him.

"I'm so sorry Castle," Esposito said quietly. "If only I wasn't late, I could've been there to help her."

Ryan sat next to Esposito and placed his hand on his shoulder. "Javi, it wasn't your fault, you saved her life." Ryan said comforting his friend.

"You saved her life?" Castle asked.

Esposito shook his head but Ryan spoke. "Yes he did, when we arrived he was putting pressure on her stab wound with his jacket."

"Thanks mate, if I lose her…" Castle stopped in mid-sentence. Not wanting to think what would happen if he lost her.

Alexis wraps her arm around him as he puts his head into his hands.

Hours passed and she was still in surgery, the waiting was killing him. Alexis went home to tell Martha what happened and to get changed. Ryan and Espo went to the station to get Espo's statement. And now he was all alone in the waiting room.

"Where is she." A voice shouted down the hall. Rick slowly lifted up his head and turned to look who was yelling. He saw Jim walking towards him anxious.

Rick stood up and rubbed his hand through his hair. "Where is my Katie?" Jim said close to tears.

"She's still in surgery." Castle said quietly. He puts his hand on Jim's shoulder and leads him to a seat. When Jim sat down Castel sat next to him and went into his original position with his head in his hands and sighed.

"What happened?" Jim asked quietly.

"I… I don't know, it looks like her sniper found her apparently there is evidence of a struggle and I don't know what happened after that." Castle said fighting back the tears.

Jim put his hand on his shoulder and gave him a sympathetic look.

"I shouldn't have let her go. I should've made her stay." Rick mumbled to himself.

"You, were with my daughter?" Jim asked

Castle just nodded with his head looking down and squeezing his hands together.

"Kate Beckett's family!" they both looked up to see the theatre nurse standing at the O.R's entrance. Jim and Rick stood up anxious to know that Kate was okay.

"We are her family." Jim said. Castle noticed he said _'we'_ and smiled a bit. "Is she okay?" Jim asked concerned.

"Well, the surgery went well; there was a complication but the doctor managed to keep her stable. The doctor will be out in a minute to debrief you." The nurse gave them a sympathetic smile and left.

Moments after she left the doctor appeared out of the same door as the nurse and approached Rick and Jim.

"Hello," the doctor greeted himself with a smile. "As you heard from the nurse the surgery went well…"

Before he continued Rick interrupted the doctor. "The nurse said that there was a complication?" Castle said.

"Yes you see Ms Beckett lost a tremendous amount of blood, however she is stable now, and we had to give her a few blood bags for a transfusion. There was no significant damage to her vital organs." He said pausing making sure that they understood.

"Then what caused the bleeding." Jim asked.

"It seems the knife had nipped the artery which caused the amount of bleeding."

"Are we able to see her?" Castle asked hoping the answer would be yes.

"Yes, one of the nurses will take you up to her room once we transfer her, if you wouldn't mind just waiting here, then once she is settled you will be taken to her room." The doctor said with sincere smile. Jim and Rick shook his hand and said their thanks. The doctor left and the two men turned to sit down on the seats they let moments earlier.

"Thank God she's alright." Jim said to Castle.

"I don't know what I would've done if she wasn't." Castle said back to Jim.

Jim was about to say something when he saw the nurse from before heading towards him.

"You are able to come up to see her now." The nurse said once she reached them.

Jim stood up and started to follow the nurse when he noticed Castle didn't move.

"Rick," Jim said confused. "Are you coming?"

Rick just stood there fighting the tears that were threatening to show. "I don't know what to expect, when I will see her."

Jim walked back to Rick. He grabbed his arm and started to re-follow the nurse. "Listen Rick it shouldn't matter what you don't know what to expect at the moment, but you love her don't you?" Jim asked gently.

Rick just nodded and Jim let go of his arm as they approached her room. "Then you and I are going to go into her room and hold her hands because we are the only family she has." Jim whispered, not aggressively but gently. Rick was glad that Jim was there as moral support for him even when his own daughter was on the line.

"Thanks Jim." He said quietly.

"No problem." Jim said smiling genuinely; he patted Rick on the back as Rick opened the door to his girlfriend's hospital room. He took a deep breath before entering.

"Kate." He whispered as he saw her lying peacefully in hospital bed before him.

"She has been sedated, so she most likely won't wake up for a few hours." The nurse said. "Call me if you need anything." She gave them a sympathetic look then left.

Rick hurriedly walked to Kate's side and grabbed her hand. Jim grabbed two chairs from the side of the room and placed them on either side of Kate. "Thanks." Rick said with a smile, he took his eyes away from Jim to look at Kate. He sat down on the chair and brought Kate's hand to his lips and kisses it gently. He leaves her hand there for a few minutes and places her hand back onto the bed but doesn't let go.

Jim is also holding her free hand and squeezing it not wanting to let go, he was so close to losing her the first time when she was shot and a year later stabbed, by the same person, nothing made sense to him anymore.

A few hours passed and she still hasn't woken up.

Jim went down to the hospital cafeteria to get him and Rick a coffee. "Come on Kate." Rick whispered to her, "Please wake up, I don't want to lose you." After he pleaded her to wake up he kissed her hand again, this time he wasn't able to stop the tears from escaping his eyes.

He left her hand against his lips and whispered into her hand, "I love you Kate."

He closed his eyes for a second and they reopened immediately when he heard her cough and splatter.

"Kate," he said panicking, "Kate can you hear me?"

She whispered his name sleepily. "Rick?"


	11. Chapter 11 Reliving the Moment

**So, I have had exams all week and writers block so I have **finally** written this chapter. So hope you will all enjoy this next chapter. Also thanks sooo much for all of your reviews.**

Chapter 11 – Reliving the Moment

"Kate," Rick said smiling, "You're okay." He whispered as he moves her hair away from her face.

"Yeah." She said trying to sit up. "No." she winced at the pain and clutched her side. Rick reached over her and pressed the nurse's button; he sat back down and took her hand again.

Moments later the nurse came into the room and gave Rick and Kate a friendly smile. "It's nice to see that you're up Ms Beckett. Are you in much pain?"

Kate just nodded and squeezed Castle's hand.

"Okay, so I will give you a bit of morphine so your pain decreases a bit but that is all I can do at the moment." The nurse said.

"Thank you." Kate whispered. She looked over to Castle to see him looking at her with a giant smirk. "Castle, I love ya, and all but that looks kinda creepy." She smiled.

The hospital bedroom's door opened up and Jim waked in surprised to see his daughter awake. He slightly jogs over to her and gave Castle his coffee so he could have a free hand to hold Kate's other hand.

"Hey, dad?" she said sleepily smiling.

"Hey, yourself." He said with tears welling up in his eyes.

"Dad, are you crying?" she said smiling, but slightly concerned.

"No," he looks at her ad slightly smiled. "I was just so worried I would lose you, I am just glad that you're okay."

"I'm fine dad." She gave her dad a sympathetic smile. Because she didn't want something to happen to her, since he turned to alcohol last time. "You're not gonna get rid of me that easily." She said as she squeezed his hand.

He just smiled and squeezed back.

Hours past and in that time Jim went home, Ryan, Espo and Lanie had visited and she thanked Espo for saving her life.

After a big day Kate fell asleep in her hospital bed, with Castle by her side holding her hand and his head resting on his arm along Kate's bed.

Kate gasped as she woke up. She sat there wincing at the pain in her side and trying to find air. Rick was alerted that something was wrong when he felt her grip on his hand tighten, killing his hand.

"Kate?" he said quietly, close to whisper, "What's wrong?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you." Her hand loosens from his but she leaves her hand tangled in his.

"Kate, what is it?" he said with a stern but shaky voice.

"It's nothing." She said unconvincingly. Castle could see right through her.

"Kate." He gave her a stern but loving look. She folded.

"It was just a nightmare." She said looking down into her lap. She tried to lean back into her bed and he jumped up from his seat and helped her. She used the bed remote to adjust the bed to fold up for her to sit up.

"Oh, was it about your attack?" he asked she simply nodded. "Well," he continued. "Don't worry. You have me to protect you." He said smiling.

She gave him a '_really'_ look. "What with vast arsenal of rapier wit?" she said smiling. They started laughing and then she winced in pain.

"Ooooh, are you okay?" he could tell how much she was in pain by how hard she was squeezing his hand.

He reached over and pressed the call button for the nurse's station.

"Rick. I'm fine." She said still holding her side.

"You sure about that?" he asked cheekily.

Moments later the nurse that came in before reappeared through the hospital room doors with a smile on her face. She could tell just by looking at Kate that she was in pain.

"Still in pain are we?" she asked once she got to Kate's chart.

Kate just nodded but Castle spoke for her. "Yeah she is she doesn't really like to admit it but yeah."

Kate shot him a look then he went quiet.

The nurse just laughed at Rick and looked back to Kate. "Okay, well I will give you some more morphine, and you need to not sit up as much because you are stretching your stitches and that could lead them to rip so you just need to relax."

"Ha!" Rick accidentally let out.

Kate gave him THE stare and he bit his lip to stop his laughter.

"I'm sorry Kate, but you and relaxation, don't usually get along." The nursed joined in on Rick's laughter and Kate couldn't help but smile. But she quickly held it back before Castle could see the grin.

"I can't help it!" she protested, "I have to keep busy, it's a habit." She looked over to Castle and he gave her a playful smile and squeezed her hand. She squeezed his hand and smiled back at him. The nurse looked at them and gave them a smile.

"May I say you two look adorable." The nurse said smiling at the happy couple.

They just smiled at each other and said thank you to the nurse as she turned to leave. The nurse was about to leave the room when Ryan, Gates and two officers entered the room.

The nurse gave them a smile as she left. Ryan smiled when he saw Kate smiling looking at him. She looked better since the last time he saw her, when she was unconscious bleeding out.

"Hey, Ryan." She said smiling.

"Hey, Beckett, how are you feeling?" he asked, he couldn't help but smile when he saw Castle holding her hand.

"A bit better." She said smiling.

"Glad to hear it." Gates said with what looked like a smile. "I hope you don't mind Beckett, but we came here to ask you a few questions, if you're up to it."

"Sure." Kate said holding her smile. Rick and Ryan could tell she was trying not to show how afraid she was to relive that moment, just like when she was hanging of the roof, the first time her and Maddox fought. "Where should we start?"

"Well, how about the beginning." Gates said.

Kate tried to sit up again; Castle jumped up and helped her. Ryan could see that she was in a lot of pain, but didn't say anything. "Um, okay." She breathed as she settled back into her bed.

"We could always leave it for later." Ryan said, looking from Gates to Kate and back.

"No, it's fine." She quickly said.

"Okay then, when you're ready." Gates said with a sympathetic smile.

"Okay," Kate breathed, "well, I just got off the phone with Esposito, because he wanted to talk and I told him to meet me at my place in fifteen." She stopped to look at Gates and Ryan and continued. "Fifteen minutes later, there was a knock on the door and I thought it was Espo, I opened the door and there he was Maddox was standing there with his gun pointed at my face."

Castle takes her hand and he can feel her squeeze back. He looks at her with a concerned look on his face. This is the first time he has heard her say what happened and he's bracing himself, for what's coming up. He squeezes back to reassure her that he's there for her.

"I tried to shut the door, but he stopped it and forced it back open. I backed away with the gun still pointed to my head. I kept backing away but I was stopped by the wall. He asked me if I had anything to say and I said yeah, this and I grabbed his hand, rolled into him, I stepped on his foot then elbowed him in the face. He was vulnerable so I took the gun off him and pointed it at him and he started backing away into the kitchen." She stopped to look at Gates and Ryan, Ryan was taking notes in his notebook and Gates had a stern and worried look.

She looked at Rick and he was giving her a sympathetic smile. He pulled their joined hands to his lips and kissed her hand.

She continued, "He had blood gushing out of his nose, he was still backing away and I was trying to psych him out. I didn't notice him grabbing the knife, everything just went so fast."

"How were you not able to get the knife off him?" Gates asked.

"I was too close at that point, I didn't notice until the knife was in me."

"What happened after that?" Rick asked.

"I fell to the ground and he was coming closer, I pulled myself to reach for the gun that was knocked out of my hand. I grabbed it and three rounds left the gun and into his chest." At this stage she couldn't stop the tears rolling down her cheeks. She wiped the tears from her face and fought the other tears by biting her lip.

"Thank you Detective Beckett," Gated said, "I know that was hard for you and it was much appreciated."

"Is that it?" Castle asked hopeful.

"For now," Ryan said with a sympathetic look on his face, "hey, get better soon." With that he gave her a smile and he and Gates exited the hospital room.

"I am glad he's dead." Kate turned to look at her Rick. That means this is close to over, I mean that's one less person after you.

Kate nodded. "I am never going near this again." Her voice was shaky when she said it, but Castle knew she meant it.

"You know I'm here for you, you don't have to do this alone." Kate heard him say those words before, a few days, possibly a week ago when their murder investigation was connected to Montgomery's death and her mother's murder.

"I know." She said as she squeezed her hand and gave him a sweet smile. "I can tell you one thing though," she said. He looked at her confused as he tilted his head. "That is one moment in my life I won't be reliving again." She continued.

He smiled at her weakly. "No, not as long as I'm around."

I have finally finished this chapter it took me a long time to finish it, but I made it. So I hope you all enjoy it.

Please review.


	12. Chapter 12 Discharged

Chapter 12- Discharged

Weeks have passed and as much as she protested, Castle hasn't left her side. For a week now he has been by her bedside, cheering her up when she needed it and learning more about him that she could possibly imagine.

Much to her dislike she is still in hospital under supervision and every day she wishes to be able to go home.

"Today is you your lucky day Miss Beckett." The nurse said as she walked into the hospital room where Castle was sitting next to her tracing his fingers up Kate's arm.

"How so?" Kate asked trying to ignore the tickling sensation going up her arm, biting her lip by holding back the laughter.

"You are being discharged." A smile spread across Kate and Rick's faces as they looked at the nurse in disbelief.

"Really?" Rick said to get confirmation.

"Aha, but on a few conditions." The nurse said.

"Anything." Kate said shaking her head in excitement to going home.

"Well," the nurse started. "Firstly you need someone to take care of you…"

"You can stay at mine." Castle interjected and then looked at the nurse apologetically for interrupting her, but she just swatted her hand as in saying 'no problem'.

"That's fine, which brings me to the second condition, no physical activity, no running, no sport and no other physical activity." Kate's face went red as the nurse looked between Castle and Kate.

The nodded embarrassed. "And the third point?" Kate asked.

"Don't go back to work to soon you will need probably six more weeks of sick leave before you go back to saving the city from murderers." Kate and Rick smiled at the nurse who reminded them a lot of Lanie. "Have we got a deal?"

Kate nodded with a big grin on her face.

The nurse smiled at them and told them to get ready and she would get the doctor to sign the discharge papers and left them alone in the room.

"Are you sure that you want to look after me?" she asked quietly. "I don't want to impose."

He moved his chair closer to her bed and moves a strand of hair out of her face to look her in the eyes. "Of course, you're a part of the family now, you won't be imposing." He smiled at her and she smiled back at him. He got up and kissed her on the head.

He stayed standing for a bit when Kate had a sudden realisation. "I don't have any clothes."

"That's fine, I'll get Alexis to swing by your place and pick you up a few clothes." He said as he pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"Thanks." She whispered.

"No problem." He said as he bent down to kiss her before he left the room to make the phone call.

When he leaves Kate waits for the door to close before she pulls the hospital blankets off her and swings her legs of the bed. She sat on the side of the bed biting her lip in pain.

She takes a deep breath and grips on to the I.V stand and slowly pulls her self of the bed. She stands there for a moment as she waits for her breathing to steady.

She tightens her grip on the I.V stand as she feels the sharp pain in her stomach. The pain to her is unbearable. She can feel the pain taking over her body as she struggles to remain standing.

Her head pounding she tries to sit back down when Rick comes running to her side. He puts an arm around her back and holds her hand as he sits her back down on her bed.

"Are you okay?" he asked still holding onto her although she is now sitting on the bed.

She nods her head while biting her lip, still feeling the excruciating pain in her stomach and her pounding head.

"It looked like you were seconds away from collapsing. What were you thinking?" he said in a panicked and shaky voice.

She took a deep breath before answering. "I was just trying to walk. I need to be able to stand at least." She said desperately with a tear rolling down her cheek.

Castle wiped away the single tear with his thumb and pulled her into his body, giving her a comforting hug and whispering into her hair, "You have to take one day as it comes, you can't push yourself too hard or you might not recover."

"Yeah, I know, it's just if I'm being discharged don't you think I should at least be able to stand let alone walk?" she said pulling away to look at him.

He looks at her and gives her a sympathetic look. "Just don't try anything without help okay." She looks away. "Please?" he pleaded.

"Okay." She gave up and gave him a weak smile.

He hopped off the bed in what looked like a split second and turned to face her. He took her free hand and the hand that was still clutching the I.V stand. Once he had her hands in his he slowly walked backward as she slid off the bed and stood up.

She winced at the pain. He stopped for a minute and put his arm around her waist helping her stand up.

"Thank you." She whispered once she stood up strait.

"Always." He said as he slowly sat her back down.

A couple of minutes later Alexis came in with a duffel bag in her hand. Her dad turned to face her and smiled sweetly at her.

"Hey Alexis." He said as he slowly hopped of the bed.

"Hey." She said back. She went around the bed and her father met her half way. "How are you feeling?" she asked as Kate turned to give her a painful smile.

"I've been better." She breathed.

"I just caught her trying to stand by herself. I caught her just before she collapsed." Rick said looking between her and his daughter.

"Are you allowed to stand up by yourself?" she asked concerned for her father's girlfriend.

They both shook their heads. Kate hung her head and hid behind her hair, embarrassed of her incapability's. Alexis placed the duffel on the end of the bed ant walked around to stand in front of Kate. She kneelt down in front of her and place her hands on Kate's hands.

"Don't push yourself; we need you to be all in one piece when you come home with us." She smiled.

Kate smiled back at her and mouthed 'thank you' to her.

Alexis just gave her a wink and smiled at her.

Rick couldn't help but grin when he saw his girls getting along so well in a time like this.

"I'll leave you to it." Alexis said as she popped back up. She gave her dad a smile and left the room.

Kate turned slowly and reached for the duffel to find her clothes. She half smiled and she looked to Castle.

"Ooooh, right, sorry." He went to leave before she called him back.

"Rick… I might need help" she said embarrassed.

He turned around with a smile on his face. "No problem."

Alexis was waiting outside when the nurse came around with a file in her hand.

"Hi." The nurse said bubbly.

"Hey." Alexis said back.

"Why are you waiting out here?" the nurse asked warily. "If I walk in there I won't be surprised by anything will I?"

Alexis just laughed and shook her head. "No, he's just helping her get dressed."

"Oh." The nurse said laughing. "So, how do you know Ms Beckett?"

"She's my dad's girlfriend." Alexis replied.

"Oh." The nurse repeated. "So, Richard Castle is your father, what's that like?"

"It's interesting," she said "Sometimes it's like raising a nine year old."

"Tell me about it." They turned to hear breathless voice coming out the door. Kate was walking out with Castle supporting her. He gripped her tight just in case her legs gave way.

Alexis and the nurse laughed while Kate smiled. Rick was smiling but was focusing on holding Kate.

"I have my moments." He said.

They stood there for a moment then the nurse suggested for Kate to sit down in one of the chairs so she could sign the discharge forms.

A few minutes later the papers were signed and the nurse got a wheel chair for Kate. Before they knew it they were out of the hospital doors and Rick was helping Kate into the car ready to go home.

They arrived at the loft and although that was one of the few times Alexis had driven she was just glad to be home.

She got out of the driver's side of the car and walked around to see her dad opening the back seat door. He quickly got out of the car and went around it to the other side to help Kate out of the car.

She grabbed his neck and pulled herself up. She winced at the pain rushing at her from her stomach. He put his arm around her waist as he walked her into the lobby of his loft's building. They all smiled as the doorman said hello.

Minutes later Kate was leaning on Rick as Alexis was opening the front door to the loft.

Rick had a minor thought so they could have a little laugh. As soon as the door was open he bent down and picked Kate up.

She protested as much as possible. As Alexis laughed as she kept the door open.

"Rick! Put me down!" she let out, he wouldn't though. So she gave up and rested into his chest.

He finally put her down on the couch and gave her a gentle smile.

"There you go." He said with a slight giggle.

"Thanks." She said sarcastically.

"Would you like a drink?" Alexis asked Kate. Kate just nodded.

"Water please." She said quietly.

"Well, welcome home." Castle said looking at her sincerely.

She smiled back at him and leant up, ignoring her pain, and kissed him. "Hmm, I like the sound of that."


	13. Chapter 13 The Ultimate Secret

**Thank you to all of your reviews and more subscriptions, sorry it took so long to put chapter eleven up, but it was really hard to write. Any way here is chapter 13. **

Chapter 13- The Ultimate Secret

A couple days after Kate has been discharged from hospital, and although Castle and Alexis can be great entertainment, she has given into the battle of boredom. With Alexis studying for her tests for Columbia and Rick doing the best he can, while trying to finish his book on Gina's deadline. She's just sitting on the couch, staring TV, flick through day time shows.

Kate was startled out of her deep thoughts when Rick moved her legs and sat in their place, placing her legs on his lap gently.

"Hey." He said with a small smile.

"Hey." She replied.

"You okay?"

"Yeah, I was just thinking." She answered unconvincingly.

"Kate, what's wrong?" he said sternly.

"It's just… I hate not being able to do stuff; I hate not being able to fiend for myself." She let out.

"I know how I can cheer you up." He said with a cheeky smile on his face.

"Am, I gonna like this?" she asked hesitantly.

"Hmm, yeah probably not." He said with a big grin on his face.

"Okay, go ahead." She said.

"Okay, so what is the most ultimate secret that no one knows about?"

"Really Castle? Deepest secrets?" she said.

"Come on, first of all, do you have an ultimate secret, that even Lanie doesn't know about Katherine Beckett." He said as he raised an eyebrow.

She looked away as she bit her lip and looked down in to her lap.

"Oh, so there is a secret? Do tell."

She bit her lip again and gave into his deep blue eyes. "Okay, well you know that phase I told you about, when Alexis and her friend came to the precinct…"

"The one where you told me you had a tattoo…" he interjected and she laughed.

"Yes Castle, that phase," she rolled her eyes at him and continued. "Anyway, as I was saying, well when I was in that phase I was with a guy. And it turned out because of him, I kinda ended up pregnant."

"Kinda?" he asked with a chuckle, "Well, I certainly didn't expect that."

"I didn't think so." She said quietly.

"So what happened?" he asked while he was gently rubbing his fingers up and down her leg, he could see she was trying to fight the tickling sensation up her leg.

"Well, I told my parents and they were great they said that they would help me raise the baby and will be there for me."

Castle smiled.

"But, three months into the pregnancy, my mom was murdered, and my dad turned to drink."

"Oh, Kate." He said sympathetically. He could see that she was trying to fight the tears.

"Six months into the pregnancy and dad still wasn't coping, I… I tried to take the drink away from him and he pushed me away, forgetting that I was pregnant and I fell onto the coffee table, landing on my baby."

He was speechless, thinking that this must be super hard for her to remember.

She was fighting away the sobs now, but there were some traitorous tears rolling down her cheek, she quickly wiped the tear away. "He left, me on the floor in pain to go to a bar as I drove myself to the hospital, the doctor told me the baby was fine and he amniotic sack had cushioned it."

"That's good isn't it?"

"Yes Castle, it is."

"So what happened?"

"I got home and he was passed out on the doorstep, I opened the door and tried to drag him inside. The neighbour saw and came out to help me."

"No one should have to deal with that, but you were six months pregnant and trying to drag your passed out father into the house?" he said astounded as he shook his head.

"Yeah," she said quietly, "Next thing I know I am in hospital having the baby, dad was there, except he was in the other end of the hospital in the E.R so I was alone, with no one's hand to hold."

"Oh, Kate, how did you manage?"

"Just barely," she said close to a whisper, he could hear a sob caught in her throat. He repositioned himself to hug her.

Kate moved into the hug. They were now positioned so she was lying next to him with her head on his chest and his arm around her. He kissed the top of her head.

"So what happened to the baby?"

"I couldn't bring him up by myself and I had a father who was an alcoholic. I couldn't put a baby in that environment, so I gave her up for adoption."

"Her? You had a girl?"

"Yeah, I got the nurse to take a photo of her, pass me my bag."

He leant over and reached for her black leather bag.

"Thanks," she sat up and winced a bit at the pain; she dug into her bag and pulled out her purse. "Here." She passed him a small photo of Kate in a hospital bed smiling at the little baby girl in her arms.

"She looks beautiful." He said as a whisper as he sat up. Kate put her head on his shoulder and he put his arm around her.

"She was." She whispered. "It was the hardest thing I have ever done, giving her up."

"Do you regret it?" he asked looking down at her.

"Every day," She said looking up at him. "But I also know it was the best thing for her."

"Do you know her name?"

"Actually I do, well her first name anyway, her adoptive parents asked me if there was a certain name that I would like for her."

"So what did you name her?"

"…Johanna." She whispered.

He smiled. "I love that name. How old would she be now?

"Um, she will be sixteen in a couple of weeks."

"Wow, so what happened with your dad?"

"When he woke up in the hospital he was kinda sober, so the nurse told him that I was I hospital and she said that delivered a healthy baby girl. A couple of hours later he came to see me, and I told him that I had adopted her out because I had to get him sober. And eventually I did…" she trailed off. "He never forgave himself though, he realised that there was more to life than getting black out drunk, and the rest is history." She finished.

"Wow, that is actually a really big secret…" he trailed off.

"Yeah please don't tell anyone… I don't want them to know…" she said quietly.

"Your secret is safe with me."

**So there is chapter 13 I hope you all enjoy it and I would love reviews thanks. **


	14. Chapter 14 Facing the Scars

**Okay, I'm sorry I haven't posted lately, but I have had major writers block every scenario I came up with felt wrong so this chapter feels right, but I don't know if you like it. I hope you all enjoy it.**

Chapter 14 – Facing the Scars.

"You, know what." Castle said after a moment of holding Kate in his arms.

"What?"

"I could actually see you being a mom." He said in a muffled tone, with his lips pressed into her hair.

"Really?" she asked surprised. "What makes you say that?"

"You are great with kids, you're great with Alexis and I'm so glad she has you as a role model and you are actually a kind of mother to her, better than her own one..." he drifted off.

"Really and she said that, after four years of addressing me as Detective Beckett and not as Kate." She said not believing a word that comes out of his mouth.

"Yeah, she said that to me a couple of years ago, and after the bank robbery, she said she was glad that you were there to tell her what was going on and she told me that you promised that you were going to get me and mother out of there." He said with a massive grin on his face.

She smiled. "Really, she told you about that?"

"Yep."

"Well what was I supposed to do she was terrified and I had to keep her calm. And I also was trying to stay calm, I didn't want anything to happen to you, I had to stop myself from running in there as soon as I arrived." She confessed.

"I know and I'm grateful for how you handled Alexis and I am so glad that we came out okay, because I wouldn't be here if things turned south..." He said close to whisper.

"Hey, hey, don't think about it okay, we are here together…"

"And it's about time too…" they heard a voice interrupting her from the stairs.

They both smiled.

"Hey Alexis." Kate said.

"Hey." She replied.

"How's it going munchkin?"

"Alright. Bit bored, if I look at another paper about economics I will take no responsibilities of my actions." She said with a sigh.

Kate and Rick laughed.

"But, I'm right you know," she continued, "it's about time you two have gotten together and thank god you have, either wise right now I would have dad obsessing over you."

Castle went red and Alexis walked over and kissed on him on the cheek. She and Kate giggled.

Alexis was starting to think that they were an actual family, truth be told she loved seeing Kate and her dad together and she was starting to get used to seeing her around the loft.

"So, what are we doing today?" She said with her arms on her dad's shoulder's smiling at Kate.

"Dunno I wouldn't mind seeing new scenery." Kate confessed.

"What? My beautiful face isn't enough for you?" Castle said 'hurt'.

Kate and Alexis just started laughing.

"Ouch." Castle said quietly, but loud enough for them to hear.

"Don't worry Castle; we still love being around you." Kate said rubbing her hand on her leg.

"I have an idea." Castle said as soon as he squeezed Kate's hand.

"Wow that happens a lot." Alexis said sarcastically.

She moved around to sit next to Kate who smiled at her and she looked at her dad who gave her an unhappy look. She winked at him.

"Anyway," he continued, "as I was saying I think maybe we can get Ryan, Esposito and Lanie and maybe we can go to The Old Haunt, you know catch up."

"That would be great." Kate said with a grin on her face.

"Yeah, I like hanging out with Lanie and the boys." Alexis said.

"Okay I'll ring them." He said as he got up from the couch.

"Would you like a drink Detective Beckett?" Alexis asked.

"Alexis, please call me Kate." She said as she sat up from the sofa, squeezing her eyes shut from the pain.

"Okay, Kate, so you wanna drink." Alexis said as she helped Kate off the couched.

She murmured a word of thanks to Alexis as she slowly walked to the counter with Alexis as she sat on a bar stool she winced as she felt her stomach fold while she was jumping on to the stool.

"Yes please Alexis that would be great."

"What would you like," Alexis said as she walked to the fridge, "we have, orange juice, apple juice, coffee, hot chocolate, and water, as well as beer… but I don't think you can have that with your medication…" Alexis trailed off, staring into the fridge.

"No I can't," Kate smiled, "Just water please Alexis."

"Okay." Alexis said smiling, as she turned to get a glass and she walked over to the tap.

"Thanks." Kate said as Alexis placed the glass on the counter.

"You're welcome." Alexis turned back around and into the cupboard she pulled out a white plastic bottle and read the label.

She walked over and placed the white bottle in front of Kate and leaned against the counter.

"No, I'm fine Alexis, really."

"Kate, you're in pain just take couple of painkillers to give me a piece of mind."

Kate sighed. "Okay." She took the bottle and twisted the lid open. She looked at the pills for a minute then took two little white pills out and placed them into the palm of her hand. She pops them into her mouth and she takes a gulp of water to help swallow.

"I hate the after taste of these things." Kate said to Alexis.

Alexis laughed at the same moment Castle appeared out of his office.

"Okay, operation the Old Haunt is a go." He looks at Kate and Alexis and sees Alexis still laughing. "What's funny?"

"Huh, oh um, nothing," Alexis said. "It's just Kate, pulling faces."

"Oh really?" he said raising his brow.

He walked over around the island counter; he wrapped an arm around his daughter and looked at Kate.

"So let's see this face then." He said looking at Kate with one brow raised and a big grin on his face.

"Mmm, no." Kate said getting off the barstool.

Rick saw her wince and went to her side to help her off the stool. "Come on, please." He pleaded with her.

Kate turned to Alexis. "Nine year old on a sugar rush." She said pointing to Castle.

He just rolled his eyes at her and led her away to his room.

Alexis was just laughing as she headed up the stairs to get ready.

"Okay time to get you dressed for tonight, it's not like you can go in my trackies and my t shirt. As much as I would like you to." He said as he pulled her into his body and wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Please, Rick you wouldn't be satisfied unless I'm on your arm naked." She said and gave him a kiss.

"That we could do." He said as he pulled away a grin spreading across his face.

"NO!" Kate yelled

His grin grew wider as he pictured her walking down the street on his arm naked.

"Castle." She said snapping him out of his fantasy.

"Hm." He turned to face, she rolled her eyes at him and kept walking into the bedroom.

She leant up against the wall to help her stand upright. The pain had lessened, those painkillers really did work. She still slowly walked to where some of her clothes had been living in the Chester drawers in his room.

"Let me." He said as he made his way to the drawers.

"Thanks." She said as she sat down on the bed struggling to catch her breath.

He pulled out a pair of skinny jeans and a white button down shirt with a light grey cardigan.

"Thanks." Kate said as she stood up from the bed and slipped out of sweats that Castle leant her. She grabbed the skinny jeans and bent down only to receive a sharp pain from her knife wound. Her head shot back as she took in a deep breath and winced.

"Are you okay?" Castle asked as he hurriedly went to her side.

"Yeah, yeah Castle, I'm fine. Just a little pain." She said through gritted teeth.

Castle slid off the bed and bent down in front her; he grabbed the jeans that were resting against Kate's legs. He picked them up and lifted one of Kate's legs gently. He slid one of her legs into the right hole of her jeans. He then did the same with the other leg.

He stood up and slowly stood Kate up.

"You know you don't have to dress me Castle." She said close to a whisper.

"Well you're in too much pain to dress yourself so, I guess I have to. And honestly, I don't mind." He said with an open smile.

He pulled her jeans gently around her waist and after he did up the button and the flyer he turned to the button up shirt of hers lying on the bed. "Shirt off."

"I can do this one Castle." She said quietly, not wanting to take her shirt off.

"Nope, I don't want you hurting yourself. Come on shirt off."

"Castle, please." She whispered.

"Kate, what's wrong? You're acting like I won't like your body, which may I say would never happen." He said with a half-smile.

"Because you won't Castle, I body is so scarred and…" she hesitated.

"And what, Kate I love you no matter what you look like, okay. And you should be proud of your scars, because your scars are a symbol of how much you have survived. Okay so now please take your shirt off so I can put this one on." He pleaded.

She nodded with a tear rolling down her face. Kate lifted Rick's shirt that she was wearing over her head, exposing to Rick her scar from her knife wound.

Before he put her shirt around her placed his hand onto her waist, gently caressing the scar that has made Kate more self-conscious. He leaned up to her ear and whispered, "You are beautiful, don't ever forget that." He leant back and gave her a kiss on the cheek tasting the saltiness of her tears. "Now, let's get the shirt on you so we can see our friends." He said with a smile.

"Okay." She choked on the lump in her throat, making the simple word come out barely as a whisper.


	15. Chapter 15 The Old Haunt

**Thank you so much for all of your reviews, subscriptions and adding my story and me to your favourites, I was so happy when I saw all of them. So here is chapter fifteen, I hope you all enjoy. **

Chapter 15 – The Old Haunt

After her dad and Kate went into the bedroom to get Kate changed, Alexis went up the stairs to get her jacket and purse.

After she retrieved those things and went on her computer for five minutes to check her email, she made her way down the stairs when her dad and Kate were coming out of the study into the living room.

"Hey, are we ready?" Alexis asked as she got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Yeah, I think so." Castle said looking from Kate to his daughter.

"Let's go then." Alexis said smiling; she went to the other side of Kate and held her arm so Castle could lock the door.

With Castle's momentary absence Kate placed her free hand onto her stomach, protectively over her wound, considering what Castle said about how her wounds being symbols on how much she had survived.

She slightly smiled, then bit her lip back, fighting off the traitorous tears, daring to pass her eyes.

"Are you alright?" Alexis asked her as they got to the elevator.

She turned to Alexis and gave her a genuine smile, "Never better."

The elevator doors opened just as Castle stopped next to Kate and put a reassuring hand on her back. He whispered in her ear once they got into the elevator, "The world is the same scary place as it was before you were attacked, we can conquer it together."

She turned to him and saw him smile at her.

'_Thank you'_ she mouthed

He gave her a playful wink and kissed her on the cheek. He rested his chin on her head and held her tight with the same reassuring hand.

A minute later they stepped out of the elevator and travelled through the lobby, to go hail a cab.

When they entered the Old Haunt, Kate was surprised of how far she has come. She had made it, she thought, she had made it without being attacked and with Castle at her side.

Castle held open the door for Alexis and Kate before he walked in himself. He motioned for them to follow him to corner booth where all of their friends were sitting.

"Hey girl!" Lanie said as she slid of the cushioned booth chair to give her best friend a hug.

"Hey Lanie, how are you?" Kate asked, she felt like she hasn't seen Lanie in weeks, but to be honest she saw her couple of days ago. She came around with another bunch of flowers for her. The third bunch Lanie had given her. Lanie pulled out of their hug to look at Kate.

"I'm good, but look at you girl! Out and about with writer boy and Alexis, I'm just so happy that you're okay."

"Lanie I'm fine, now where am I sitting?" she asked as she slowly shuffled over to the booth.

"That would be next to me." Castle whispered in her ear.

Kate laughed and bit her lip playfully. She hasn't been out in a while but is looking forward to some entertainment.

"Hey, Becks." Said Espo as she slid in next to him. He gave her a hug that she accepted and before she could sit down Ryan and Jenny entered and hurriedly came over to the booth so Ryan could give Kate a hug.

"Hey, Ryan it's good to see you too." She said with a smile. "Hey Jenny she added as Ryan pulled away from the hug.

"Hey Kate." She replied, "How are you?"

"I'm getting there, still not fully recuperated, but much better." Kate replied.

Ryan and Jenny shifted next to Lanie and Alexis.

"So I bet it's my round now, same again?" Castle asked as he got up.

Everyone nodded and Alexis and Kate both ordered lemonades. Kate watched Castle make his way to the bar, before her attention was brought back into the group.

"Huh?" Kate asked, completely missing what Lanie had said to her.

"I said," Lanie repeated. "Don't you agree it's about time you and writer boy had finally gotten together?"

"Lanie, we have already discussed this." Kate said, fighting the heat rising in her cheeks.

"I know, but I thought we should make it a group discussion, don't all of you agree?" she asked the group.

All Kate could hear was a chorus of "Hell yeah". She turned her head to see Castle talking to the guy at the piano with their tray of drinks.

"I could you a drink right about now." Kate whispered to Alexis who was sitting opposite her. Alexis gave her a small smile and looked over to see her dad coming closer.

"Here we go." Said Esposito as Castle placed the tray in the middle of the table for every ones easy access.

"What were you talking to the piano man about?" Kate asked, slight worried, to be honest.

"Oh, Jimmy, nothing," he sucked in a breath before he slowly said the last bit. "Just asked him a favour." He slowly turned his head to see Kate's reaction.

Her eyes were wide and she just opened her mouth when she heard it.

"You didn't?" she asked threatening.

Everyone else on the table was completely oblivious to his antic and her reaction until he stood up.

"Oh but I did." He waggled his eyebrows as he took her hand and gently pulled her up.

"What's happening?" Alexis asked everyone's question.

"This, according to Kate is our song." Castle said.

"What is it?" Asked Esposito.

"You talk too much, by Clarence Carter." Answered Kate her eyes not leaving Castle.

"Go on Kate." Said Ryan.

"Fine." She said as she let Castle lead her to a small wooden tiled dance floor.

"Show him those moves!" Lanie shouted after him. Then they all turned into continuing whatever conversation they had before, that Kate wasn't listening to. Knowing they would be watching them.

"So how are you enjoying your night out?" Asked Castle as he turned to face her and pulled her to him. Beginning to slow dance.

"Good, Ah Castle?"

"Yeah?" he answered.

"This is an upbeat song… why are we slow dancing?" she asked.

"Good point." He pulled away and started dancing like an idiot. Kate just stood the lightly grasping her scar, while fighting the pain of laughing at him doing the sprinkler.

"OH. MY. GOD." Kate said as she was grasping for air. "Please stop!"

So he did he stopped doing the sprinkler and moved right into 'shuffling'. Kate had to sit down at the nearest table, which she didn't realise was occupied by a person watching Castle and her. He stopped to laugh at her quickly getting back up and apologising to the stranger.

She gave him a scowl and turned to see their friends joining them on the dance floor.

"Hey what are you guys doing?" Kate asked.

"Well you can't have all the fun." Lanie, Jenny and Alexis said in unison.

"True," Kate said. "Well come on then." Kate said waving them over, seeing Ryan and Esposito following them.

"Hey Castle, what's with the moves?" Esposito asked fighting the urge to laugh.

"Oh please Javi," interrupted Kate. "Have you seen your moves lately, Castle is way better."

"Please." said Esposito waving Kate off.

"I don't know Javi," said Ryan, "Comparing you and Castle, I would go with Castle on that one." He said shaking his head and finished his beer.

"I second that." Lanie said as she turned away, from the dancing Alexis and Jenny.

"Hey, what is this? Pick on Javi day?" he said into his glass. Kate couldn't stop laughing. She missed all her friends on their crazy behaviour.

After a little time of giggling like maniacs at Javi, they all stopped to breath when Castle realised the song had changed to something overly familiar to him and the team.

"Hey," Castle said, everyone turned and looked at him. "Remember when we all sang this after that case that made us come here?"

"Hahaha, and Montgomery, was so excited to get started in drinking that Beau James." Kate said laughing of the fond memory of their former boss.

"Well, Kate will you have this dance with me?" Rick asked.

"No." she said with all seriousness in her face.

Castle's face fell, he looked confused and hurt.

"Lighten up Castle." She said cracking up laughing trying t fight the smile on her face. "I was just yanking your chain." She said as she got up to dance with him.

Everyone danced and sang to the "team's song" and everybody kept laughing at Rick's dance moves as well as his singing, although Kate was quite fond of his singing.

After half an hour od dancing, laughing and singing to songs they all knew, with every pair of eyes on them in the Old haunt. Kate had to sit down. Her wound was pulling on her. She tried to ignore it at first but with the amount of laughter she had exiting her lips she had enough and sat down.

Castle came over to their boot to see her sitting in the booth's seat, smiling and clutching at her side.

"You okay?" he asked as her put an arm around her and she nestled her head into his neck.

"Yeah it was just pulling a bit." She said quietly. Kate accidentally let a yawn passed her lips and Castle heard it.

"Tired?" he asked.

"A bit." She said. "Thank you for tonight I had an amazing time tonight Rick. It definitely took my mind off things for a while." She smiled.

"Glad to be of help." He said with a slight chuckled.

The fell into a comfortable silence until Jenny and Kevin came over to them. "Hey guys." Kate greeted them.

"Hey, we just wanted to let you know we're gonna head home." Ryan said with a big grin on his face. "And we wanted to thank you guys for inviting us, we had a great time."

"No problem Kev." She said with a smile as she lifted her head off Rick shoulder and went to stand up to give them both a hug goodbye. As she pulled away she said quietly. "I'm glad to see you and Javi are okay." She said with a smile.

He beamed. "I know, I didn't think he would've ever forgiven me but we kinda rekindled when he called me for help when you were stabbed and evolved from there." he said with a soft smile.

"I'm glad to hear it." She said. "Anyway I better let you get your wife home. Have a good one."

"Yeah, you too." He said as he turned away smiling.

She sat back down and resumed her position in Castle's arms. A few minutes later Esposito, Lanie and Alexis joined them at the booth.

"Well that was fun." Said Esposito while he was standing letting the girls go in but Lanie stayed standing as she looked at her watch.

"I think I might head off." she said as she let a yawn defeat her

"Okay." Kate said as she jumped up to hug her best friend.

"I'll see you later." Lanie said as they pulled apart.

"Absolutely!" Kate said with a massive grin. Not being able to wait to see her best friend next.

"I think I might head off too," Said the Hispanic. "I'll hopefully see you at work when your better…" he could tell by Kate's confused look that she thought, he thought she retired. "Ryan told me how you weren't able to sign the papers." He explained.

"Oh." She said. "Yeah well I start physio soon and then I will be back if Gates let's me."

"I'm sure she will honey." Said Lanie.

"Definitely." Said Esposito, "Hey Lanie would you like a ride home? Saves you hailing a cab."

"Sure Javi, I would like that." She said with a smile.

Javier Esposito walked behind Lanie as they got to the door, where he rushed in front of her to open it.

"They have to get back together." Said Rick.

Kate and Alexis nodded at the same time with big smiles on their faces.

"So Alexis, have you enjoyed yourself tonight?" Kate said as she sat back down next Castle.

"Definitely, it was a nice break from economics." The laughed then fell into a comfortable silence.

Alexis yawned, which mad Rick yawn, then Kate. "Should we head home?" Castle asked.

"Yep." Said Alexis

"I'm game." Said Kate.

"But first," started Castle. "How about we go get hot dogs, I'm starving."

"Yesss." Alexis groaned.

Kate giggled. "Sounds good." She said looking at Castle next to her.

They all jumped out of their booth and headed out the door on a search for a hotdog stand.


	16. Chapter 16 The Phone Call

**Thank you all so much for staying with me on my story it means a lot. Thanks to all the people who have reviewed, subscribed and added my story to your favourites it means a lot so thank you all again **

Chapter 16 – The Phone Call

Kate awoke to the vibration of her phone against the hardwood of the side cabinet. Dead to the world she hit the side cabinet feeling around for her phone. She felt the rectangular mobile and went to answer it, when she realised she picked up Castle's phone. On a whim, she sat up a bit too fast and got a dizzy rush as well as a sharp painat her side. Kate waved it off as she let out a long breath and reached for her phone. Her legs swung over the side of the bed as she answered.

"Beckett." She answered as a force of habit. She glanced at the digital alarm clock as it read the time 9:30 in the morning.

"Detective Beckett, it's Captain Gates, I was wondering if I could have a word?" said Gates' questioning voice over the phone.

"Yes sir, go ahead." She said as she got up off the bed and headed to the study, careful to not wake Castle up. Although she knew he would be unconscious, from all the drinking last night.

"I was wondering if you're ready to come back to work, Detective Esposito starts today after his month suspension. I knew you were thinking of coming back when the attack happened. So if you're ready and you're physically able to come back, then you're most welcome to." Gates finished.

Kate thought about it for a moment _'Has it been a month already?' _she asked herself. Kate missed the job, she missed her murder board, Ryan and Espo "working" and most of all she missed hearing Castle's crazy theories about "Ninja assassin mob hits"  
"Sir, if I come back…" she hesitated for a moment, took a deep breath and continued. "If I come back, would Castle be able to come back as well?" Kate knew it was a risk asking, but the Precinct wouldn't be the same without him.

"Detective," Gates started, "You know I don't condone my cops to date and work together, things may get messy. However…" '_However? Did she just say However?'_ Kate asked herself. She waited for Gates to continue. "Castle isn't a cop or one of New York's finest and if you tell him this I will personally see to it that you would be punished. But Castle is a tremendous asset to the 12th and I was actually considering on making him an official consultant."

"Really?" Gates heard Kate smile the word through the phone. Kate was stoked for Castle, he has always wanted a badge, and although it's a consultant card he would be overjoyed.

"Yes, so will I see you later Detective?"

"Absolutely, I'll be in later on in the day and start there, although I can't over do it." Kate told Gates knowing that she can't push it on the job.

"Of course, we will talk more later," Gates stated.

"Yes sir. Thank you."

They hung up and Kate went into the kitchen to make a new pot of coffee.

Kate took a long sip of her coffee, and grabbed hold of the second cup on the bench. When she reaches the bedroom she notices Castle flat out unconscious from their night out. She placed her cup on the bedside cabinet and reached over Castle to place his cup on the other cabinet. Once the cup was safe and secure on the wooden top she bent down and kissed his bare back to wake him up.

He stirred and looked half dead, Kate laughed at his sleepy expression as he stopped the drool to get further down his chin.

"Hi." He whispered.

"Hi." She said with a chuckle.

"Do I smell coffee?" He asked look at her hands. Kate pointed to the side cabinet next to him. "Thanks." He whispered again. He took a long sip of his cream two with sugars and endures the rich taste of the coffee.

He gave a little moan once the hot liquid slid down his throat.

"Good?" Kate asked with a little laugh to her tone, she moved a strand of hair away from his eyes and is smile widened from ear to ear.

"Very." He whispered. He leant in and gave her a soft kiss on the lips and pulled back trying to not spill his coffee.

Kate turned around and reached for her coffee as she got off his bed. "Come on up you get." She said more than loud enough.

She giggles once she sees him wince.

"You are cruel." He snarls.

"I know." Kate said as she shrugs her shoulders and turns to leave the bedroom. She turned back once she got to the doorway. "Hey," she whispers, "Maybe if you're good I'll make you a greasy breakfast."

"Yay." He said sarcastically. Kate turned to walk into the study when she heard him say "Wait."

She turned to face him, eyebrows arched.

"Does that include waffles? Oh or maybe pancakes?"

She chuckled "We'll see." was all she said before she left him in bed with his coffee.

About ten minutes later he stumbled out into the living room with his empty coffee cup, following the smell of crispy bacon strips.

"Bacon." He mumbled while sniffing and sitting down at a bar stool.

Kate just smiled and shook her head, while she placed the bacon next to the eggs on the plate.

"Hey, Castle." She started and pointed down to the plate in front of him.

"Waffles and pancakes!" he screeched like a little kid. He regretted it as soon as it came out of his mouth, as he winced at the pain in his head. "Never. Drinking. Again." He mumbled

"Aha. Sure, keep telling yourself that." She said sarcastically.

Castle looked hurt, then shook his head in agreement and dug into the breakfast.

"Better?" Kate asked Castle while he was scraping his plate clean. He leant over for second but she wacked his hand away.

"What?" he whined like a little kid. She rolled her eyes at him.

"That's for Alexis."

"Oh."

"Yeah now I need to talk to you about something." Kate said hesitantly.

"Shoot." Castle said oblivious to her hesitation.

"I got a call this morning from Gates," she started. Avoiding eye contact with him, but feeling his eyes on her. She continued. "She wanted to know if I still wanted to go back and I said yes. She wants me to go in later today and sort everything out. I know you're sceptical about me going back, but I promise that I won't push too hard and I rang the physio, and he said it was okay…"

"Kate."

"And if I do feel strained I will stop…"

"Kate."

She stopped to look at him. _I was rambling again wasn't I _she thought.

"You can go back if you want but promise me you won't push yourself."

"I promise Rick." Kate went around the island and gave him a sweet kiss on the lips. "You're coming back too right?"

"Of course, remember I have friends in high places." He said and gave her a wink.

Alexis came running down the stairs and ran straight to the food. "This smells amazing. Kate did you make it?"

"Yes and thank you Alexis."

Alexis smiled at Kate and helped herself to the food. "Hey dad?"

"Yes pumpkin?"

"Paige is having this party and I was wondering if I could go?"

"When is it?"

"Tonight, she just sent me a text about it."

"Sure honey."

"Thanks dad, oh and thanks for this amazing breakfast Kate."

"You're welcome." Kate and Rick said in unison. Alexis then disappeared up the stairs with her breakfast in her hands.

Rick turned to Kate and smiled at her.

"What?" Kate asked.

"Nothing."

"What Rick?" she said agitated.

"She looks up to you, I like it my two girls together." He said sweetly.

He placed a kiss on her forehead, got up and rinsed his plate off. "So what time are we going to the precinct?"

"When we want but I think the sooner the better." Kate said, trying to hide her smile. For once it worked.

"Let's get dressed then."

Kate started to walk to the bedroom in front of Castle and he snuck up closer behind her and tickle attacked her.

"Castle, no, No, NO!" She yelled just before she burst into laughter.

He picked her up over his shoulder and they disappeared into the study.

**I'm so sorry for this one to take so long, I've had prelims all week and studying has been a B**** but here it is, sorry that it's so short as well.**


	17. Chapter 17 Back Again

**Thank you all so much for bearing with me and my story. I know I haven't been great with updating, sorry. But here is another chapter for you all so please enjoy **

Chapter 17 - Back Again.

"Well then, here is your badge and your gun. Welcome back Detective." Gates said as she passed Kate her possessions.

"Thank you, Sir." Kate said as she gratefully took them. She placed her gun in her holster and her badge on her hip. "It feels good to be back." Kate said honestly.

Kate turned to leave the office before Gates stopped her. "Oh Detective Beckett, can you get Castle and Detectives Ryan and Esposito here."

Kate knew what for, it was for Ricks "promotion".

"Yes sir." Kate walked out of the office and grabbed the boys and Rick.

"Mr Castle," Gates started. "Since you have been here, the 12th has benefited tremendously with the amount of murders being solved in days, instead of weeks." She waved him closer. He stepped forward with a confused look on his face. He turned to look at Kate and she was trying to hide her smile, but it didn't work. Gates continued while she walked around the desk. "I would like to make you an official consultant for the 12th Precincts homicide department."

He stood there shocked as she attached the badge to his blazer pocket, his mouth slightly open.

Ryan and Esposito started cheering and hooting. Kate laughed, "Speech!" she exclaimed, embarrassing him.

"Are, are you sure?" He asked quietly.

"Absolutely Castle, you're a tremendous asset to this department." Gates said.

Castle's shocked expression was wiped from his face and an extremely wide smile took its place. He let out a laugh and picked Gates up; he spun her around and placed a peck on her cheek. She stood there shocked as he exclaimed "Thank you, thank you, thank you. Ahaha." He turned and high fived the guys before he picked Kate up and spun her around.

"Castle! Down boy." She said with laughter.

He place her down and ran out of the office 'yahooing' and skipping around the precinct overcome by joy.

Everyone in the precinct were laughing at him, they saw his badge and clapped with congratulations, still laughing of course.

"Detective Beckett," Gates turned to Kate, still a little stunned. "Please keep him under control; if I knew that was gonna be his reaction, then I would've given it to him after work."

"Yes sir," Kate said, "But sir, you've just made everyone's day." She said laughing as she headed out of the office door. Ryan and Esposito laughing behind her.

Gates let out a little chuckle when they left.

Kate stood in front of Castle with her hand out to stop him.

He skidded to a stop to try and avoid a collision.

"Okay," she started; she grabbed him by his hand and sat him down in his seat. "Breath in and out, slow, calming breaths."

He did so.

"Better?"

He nodded.

"Okay," she said with a giggle. "Now let's get to work… we don't have a case, do we?"

He shook his head. Still beaming from his promotion.

"You knew didn't you?" he asked

She smiled and slowly nodded. "Yep."

"Why didn't you tell me? When she told me to step forward I thought she was kick me out." He said honestly.

"And have us miss out on your facial expressions and your little celebratory dance, no way." She chuckled.

"Can't wait to tell Alexis." He beamed.

"Yeah? How about we go and have lunch with her I mean it's ten past two and I am starving." Kate said holding on to her stomach.

"Yeah sure." Castle replied. He giggled when her stomach gurgled loudly.

"Hey guys." She called.

"Yeah boss." Ryan and Espo replied in unison.

"Hold the fort, we're gonna go get some lunch." He said

"Save us some." Esposito said.

"Of course Javi." She sighed.

Castle grabbed her coat, helped her through it and they left to go to the elevator hand in hand.

"Hey, you guys are back early." Alexis said when they entered the loft.

"We wanted to have lunch with my beautiful daughter, is that a problem?" he said smartly.

Alexis and Kate both rolled their eyes at him. "More like he wanted to brag." Kate said

"Brag about what?" Alexis asked.

"I have been made an OFFICIAL CONSULTANT!" He exclaimed as he picked Alexis up and spun her around.

She laughed as he put her down. "Dad that's awesome!" she exclaimed.

Kate smiled at the two of them.

"So I was thinking all three of us can go out for lunch to celebrate." Castle said.

"Sounds great." Alexis and Kate said in unison. They both looked at each other and laughed.

"Weird…" Castle said under his breath hopping they didn't hear him.

They heard him. They both hit an arm each. "Ouchy." He said quietly.

"So should we head out?" Alexis asked Kate.

"Yeah." She replied.

They started to turn and leave, and then Kate turned around. "You coming Castle?"

"Ah yeah." He said as he hurried after them.

Castle and Beckett returned from lunch, after they dropped Alexis back home. She told Castle and Beckett that she would probably be gone by the time that they came home.

"Dude, I smell burritos." Esposito said to Ryan.

"Dude you sure you're not half dog or something? Because the only thing I can smell is you." Ryan replied with a happy smile on his face.

The elevator doors opened and Castle and Beckett came out. Castle was holding a plastic bag with two burritos in them.

Beckett sat at her desk, Castle continued and handed Ryan the bag.

"Burritos." He said stunned.

Esposito had a smirk on his face.

Ryan continued "Yeah, definitely half dog."

Espo's smirk dropped as he said. "Give me that."

Castle and Beckett smiled.

"I'll tell you what Beckett we certainly have missed you." Ryan said after he took the bag back from Javi to grab his burrito.

"And why's that?" she asked looking up from her desk.

"Because _we_ had to do the paper work." He whined.

She smiled. "And God forbid you should do paperwork." She said sarcastically.

"Isn't New York kind today." Castle said as Beckett was closing up shop.

"And why's that?" she asked curious to where he was going with this.

"Because people had enough courtesy to not die today."

She laughed. "Don't worry Castle; I'm sure there would be a nice new body for you to make theories about tomorrow."

He clapped his hands together, which made her laugh even more.

The loft was quiet when they arrived. "Alexis is most likely at her party." Castle said.

"She did tell us she wouldn't be here by the time we got home."

"True." Castle agreed.

He went to the fridge and Kate followed him to the breakfast bar. "Wine?" he asked.

"Absolutely." She said almost like she was begging. It wasn't like it's been a long day because of a murder or anything.

She got off the stool and grabbed the wine glasses, and took off to the couch.

When she sat down Castle took a glass off her and poured the wine into it, before passing the glass back. Then she passed him the second glass in her hand. While he was pouring the wine into the glass, he jumped from the front door slamming.

They both turned to see Alexis running from the front door to the stairs.

Her dress strap torn and her hair a mess.

Kate jumped up from the couch to run to her. Castle close behind.

They could hear her sobs from a mile away.

"Alexis honey?" Castle asked but there was no reply.

By the time they got to her, her bedroom door slammed in front of them and they heard her lock the door.

Kate knocked. "Alexis, sweetie, what's wrong?" she asked.

Instead of an answer they heard her sobs get louder.

"You stay here with Alexis; I'll go to Paige's house she might know what happened." Castle said. Kate nodded to agree.

Castle was half out the door before Alexis opened the door. "No dad, please don't!" she shouted but he was already gone.

"Alexis, sweetie what happened?" Kate tried again.

"Alexis just turned around and went back into her room, this time leaving the door open. Kate took this as an invitation. She followed Alexis and sat down onto the bed next to her.

"He can't go Kate." Alexis said. Kate barely heard it passed her sob, but she heard it.

"Who sweetie?"

"Dad, he'll murder him." Alexis said again.

"Who will he murder? Alexis, you have to tell me so I can stop your dad." There was no reply. "Alexis." Her soothing voice made Alexis turn to face Kate.

Kate put a comforting hand on Alexis' arm. Alexis jumped and moved to the other side of the room. It was then, with the light from the window shining on Alexis' face. A red hand print was on her face.

**Okay so don't hate me but once this idea popped into my head I liked it and I love Alexis but I couldn't resist. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter please review **


	18. Chapter 18 The Terrifying Truth

**Thank you all for your reviews and I would like to say to Alana-161, wow it's funny how you follow my story. Only because we have the same name. What a coincidence. Anyway on with the story. I hope you all like this chapter **

Chapter 18 – The Terrifying Truth.

When Castle got to Paige's house he saw her chasing after a guy who was casually walking away. He quickly paid the cabby and got out of the taxi.

"Jeremy, What the Hell did you do to Alexis?" Paige shouted.

That definitely got Castle's attention.

"Me, nothing, I just taught her to enjoy ones company."

"What!?" Castle shouted.

"Mr Castle?" Paige asked. He ignored her.

"Excuse me this is none of your business." Jeremy said.

"To hell, this is none of my business, what the hell did you do to Alexis?" he asked very loudly, trying to intimidate the kid, but it didn't work.

"Like I told young Paige here, I just taught her how to have a good time in one's company."

"What did you do to her?" this question coming from Paige."

"I had a good time with her, if you get my drift." A sly smile spreading across his face.

Castle grabbed him by the shirt, full of anger.

"Hit me if you like, I'll just sue your rich ass." Jeremy said.

"Don't worry I work with the police; I'll make sure you will go away for a long time."

The smile on Jeremy's face quickly ran away.

Castle drew back his fist.

"Mr Castle! Don't do it, he's not worth it!" Paige shouted.

"You're right." He let the kid go. He was ready to walk away, but Jeremy had to have the last word.

"Tell Alexis, that if she didn't squirm so much then she would've enjoyed it."

That does it.

Castle turned around ready to deck him, but then he decided to do something else.

He grabbed Jeremy by the shirt, and got his phone out.

"Ryan." The person on the other side answered.

"Hey, Ryan, I need you to do me a favour. Come by Alexis' friend Paige's house and pick up a kid." He gave Ryan the address and added, "Oh and have an arrest warrant ready." Then he hung up the phone.

Fifteen minutes late Ryan and Esposito arrived and walked over to Castle, whom was still gripping Jeremy by his shirt.

"What did he do Castle?" Espo asked.

Through gritted teeth he said loud enough for everyone to hear. "He raped my daughter."

Ryan and Esposito's faces went serious and they took Jeremy away in their cruiser.

"Alexis, who hit you?" Kate asked as she got off the bed to walk closer to the young fiery headed girl.

Alexis didn't answer; she just cowered in the corner of her bedroom.

"Alexis, I'm not gonna hurt you. What happened?" Kate said softly.

"I… I" she stuttered.

"It's okay Alexis, I'm here."

She took a deep, shaky breath, when a fresh set of soundless tears started to roll down her cheeks.

She turned to Kate.

"I was hanging around with Paige at her party and this guy, kept flirting with me. I excused myself, trying to get away from him… I went to the bathroom, I opened the door to leave and he was standing there. Just looking at me, I tried to move pass him but he grabbed my arm. I told him to let me go, but he wouldn't…" she took another shaky breath to hold back her sobs. He pushed me back in the bathroom, and he locked the door. I told him to let me out, but he just smiled. He came closer and… and…"

"It's okay Alexis." Kate said to encourage her.

"I tried to back away, but I backed into the sink. He… he pinned me down. I was begging him to let me go, I tried to escape, but he hit me. He told me to shut up and placed his hand over my mouth." She lightly touched her lips, and then she flinched. "I can't…" she said looking up to Kate.

Kate came closer and wrapped her arms around Alexis, as her sobs started up again. "Alexis, did he hurt you?" Kate could feel the girls head move in a nod. Kate clenched her jaw in anger. "Ssshhh honey, it's okay. You're safe now." Kate pulled away from Alexis and led her back to her bed. "Come on, let's get you to bed." Kate smiled, it was forced, they both knew it, but Alexis didn't say anything about it.

Kate tucked Alexis in to her bed and was about to leave when she called, "Kate?"

"Yes sweetie?" Kate asked as she turned around. Alexis' sobs had subsided and she sniffled.

"Can… can you stay with me? Just until I fall asleep?"

Kate smiled. "Sure sweetie."

Kate climbed into bed, next to Alexis and stroked her fiery hair, as her breathing evened out.

Kate woke up to the front door slamming. She looked down to see Alexis fast asleep with her head on Kate's chest. Kate slid out of the bed, trying not to wake the young girl. Alexis stirred a bit, but she was still fast asleep. Kate pulled the blanket back, climbed out and tucked Alexis back in.

She tip toed out of the room and quietly shut the door.

Kate started down the stairs only to meet Castle half way there. She could see the anger in his eyes and his fists were clenched. She turned him around and led him to the kitchen. Placed him on a stool at the breakfast bar.

"How is she?" he asked after a few minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"Terrified, it took her a while to fall asleep, but she did." Kate said as she got a bottle of water out of the fridge for him.

"Maybe something a little stronger?" he asked

"Either water or coffee your choice." Kate said laying down the rules for him.

He sighed and took the water.

"So what happened when you went to Paige's party?" Kate asked as she took a seat next to him.

"I got out of the cab and she was shouting at a boy she said and I quote 'What the hell did you do to Alexis'." He said as he took a swig from his water.

"You didn't…?" she asked hesitantly.

"Oh I wanted to, but Alexis doesn't need her dad to be arrested for assault right now." He turned to look at her, tears in his eyes.

Kate rubbed his arm to give him comfort.

"So, what did you do?" She asked.

"I called Ryan and Esposito and told them to get an arrest warrant for him." He said with a slight smile.

Kate giggled, as he took another sip from his water.

They both turned around when they heard shuffling coming from the stairs.

"Daddy?" Alexis said her eyes red and puffy.

"Hey pumpkin," he said in a nice soothing fatherly tone, "What are you doing out of bed?" after he asked the question, he realised he sounded like he was talking to a six year old.

"I woke up, and Kate wasn't there." She said quietly.

Rick looked at Kate, who smiled sweetly. Rick smiled to the thought of Kate looking after Alexis like a mother.

"What happened?" Alexis asked. Both Rick and Kate knowing she meant when he left.

"I didn't hit him. The last thing you need right now is me in jail for assault."

A worried look spread across her face.

He stood up and walked over to her. "Come here sweetie." He said with his arms out.

She hesitated and slowly walked over to Rick. Kate was worried if she was ready to be in the presence as another man.

After a few seconds Alexis had burst into tears again and wrestled against rick. "Rick." Kate said. Instantly he let his arms down and walked backwards to give Alexis some space.

Alexis ran back up the stairs muttering "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I just can't."

"Alexis?" Kate said after her. She stopped at Rick. He stopped to look at her, heartbroken. "Rick, it's not you, okay. It's just too soon for her trust a male figure, okay." He nodded. She gave him a kiss on the cheek and continued her way up to Alexis.

She stopped again at the top of the stairs and turned to face him. "If you touch any bottle of alcohol I will personally kick your ass." She threatened. Then continued into Alexis' bedroom.

Kate opened the door just to hear more sobs. Kate went to Alexis' side and tried to soothe her.

Alexis looked at Kate with her tear soaked eyes. "I…" she started, only to burst into new tears.

"I know honey." Kate said she couldn't help but have tears in her eyes.

"Am I a horrible person?" Alexis asked between sobs.

"What? Absolutely not. Why would you think that?" Kate asked stunned.

"Because, dad has been my only parent. He's my go to guy," Kate had to smile at that reference. "He's the only adult I have ever fully trusted, apart from grams of course. How can I not be able to trust my go to guy?" She asked. Kate pulled her into a hug.

"Sweetie, it's natural. It isn't that you can't trust your dad, it's more or less the gender." That earned a small smile from Alexis. "What I'm trying to say is after a while everything will be back to normal. You and your dad will be peas in a pod again and will be okay."

"Promise?" Alexis asked. She was so vulnerable, like a little kid.

She sniffled which made Kate smile. "Promise."

**Will it get better? I'm sorry again if you all hate me for what I'm putting Alexis through. But I promise things will get better for the Castle family (including Kate). Please review let me know how you all are honestly feeling.**


	19. Chapter 19 Coping

**Okay so here is the next chapter. If you hate me, hate me if not keep reading. So here is the next chapter. Please enjoy.**

Chapter 19 – Coping

After Kate went to help take care of Alexis, Castle went into his study. He sat slumped in his chair. He wanted to hit something, throw a glass at the wall, and hit everything around him until it was a mess on the floor.

_No that would just scare Alexis. _He thought.

He heard his phone ring. He hesitated to answer it, but he did. Not even looking at the caller I.D.

"Castle." He sighed into the phone.

"Hey bro, how's Alexis?" Javier Esposito asked.

"Baring up." He whispered.

He cleared his throat and wished he had some scotch to drown in. Before Castle knew it his eyes were tearing up.

"What about you bro?" Esposito asked again.

"Baring up." He answered again.

"Okay," Javi knew he wasn't just baring up, but with his experience he knew not to pry. "Well I just thought that I should tell you that Jeremy Carlisle had admitted to rap…" he stopped himself and started again. "To attacking Alexis and he's now in holding ready to be transferred to the General state's holding until trial."

"And when will that be?"

"Probably sometime next month"

"Okay, so I'll have to prepare Alexis for it." Castle said.

"Yes, Castle more than anything you need to prepare her for her testimony." The Hispanic said softly.

"Does she have to? I mean she won't want to relive it, can't we just move forward?"

"I'm sorry bro." Javi said quietly.

"No it's fine, I should've guessed I just wanna protect her that's all."

"I know man; all you can do for her now is to be there for her." Said Esposito.

"That's a challenge and a half, when she can't bear to be in the same room with me."

"She'll heal with time, just need to be patient. Alexis' is the strongest eighteen year old girl I know, she'll pull through."

"Yeah your right hey thanks Javi."

"No problem bro I'll see you soon."

And with that they both hung up, just for Castle to bury his head in his hands.

"Screw it." He said once he lifted his head up from his hands.

He got out of his chair and headed to his liquor cabinet. Castle grabbed a tumble glass and poured a neat scotch into the glass.

He hesitated for a moment. Then he down the glass, then a second, and then a third.

Kate walked into his study just as he put the glass down ready to refill it for a fourth round.

"Castle!" she exclaimed as she ran over to take the bottle away from him.

He looked over to the woman in front of him, he could barely see through his glassy tear filled eyes.

"Castle, you know alcohol never takes away the pain!" Kate exclaimed again. She managed to take the bottle from his tight grip, when she did he cracked.

He burst into tears as he sank into the floor.

Kate put the bottle of scotch back in the liquor cabinet.

She turned back to a heartbroken man crumpled against the wall of his office.

Kate bent down next to him; she has never seen him like this before. She put her arm around him and cradled him.

After about ten minutes she got him off the floor and put him in bed. Who knew she was going to be the one picking up the pieces in this family. Although she didn't mind, she was happy to be there for them, but she was definitely gonna need some help.

Kate manage to get Castle to his bed, she hated seeing this family like this. "Castle," she said as she bent down in front of him. He was sitting on the edge of the bed refusing to look at her. Embarrassed of how he had managed to show this side of him.

"Castle," she said again; Kate put her thumb and index finger on his chin and lifted his head up for him to look at her. "Look at me," she said sternly. "I know you're hurting, but you can't drown your sorrows trust me I know. So promise me you won't touch that liquor cabinet again."

Castle could see the tears in her eyes when she spoke. _Dammit Rick, you idiot!_ Castle exclaimed to himself.

"I'm so sorry Kate. I… just… I'm so, so sorry." He said. "I promise you, you won't have to deal with what you did with your dad."

He used his thumb to wipe away the traitorous tears that had her escaped from her eyes.

"Thank you." He said quietly, "Having you here has made this situation a lot easier, knowing that Alexis can have someone to trust, to help her through this." He finished. Tears escaping his eyes as well.

"Always, Rick." She replied quietly, "Now get into bed and sleep those glasses of scotch off."

He did as he was told and Kate tucked him in, she gave him a kiss on his forehead and left the room. Shutting the door slightly before heading out to the living room.

Kate wanted to break down as well. But she couldn't, she was this families rock. She needed to tell Martha what has happened. Kate got out her phone and started to dial her number. Although it was one o' clock in the morning. Kate chucked her phone down on the couch and sighed heavily.

"I'll ring her tomorrow." Kate said to herself. Kate carried herself to the couch, where she managed to fall asleep.

A piercing scream rang through Kate's ears and she reacted immediately. Kate jumped off the couch and ran up the stairs two at a time.

She burst through Alexis' room to see the young girl wrestling with herself and her blankets.

"Please!" she exclaimed, "No, please just let me go!" sobs came hard and fast as she was begging to be let go.

"Alexis!" Kate said lightly shaking her. However she won't wake up.

Castle came running into the room and with fatherly instincts, despite everything that happened only a few hours ago, he rushed to her side.

"Alexis, pumpkin," he said gently. He rubbed a hand gently through her hair, she calmed down, her breathing evened and her sobs had subsided. "Good girl, come on wake up sweetie."

"Daddy?" she whispered.

Rick smiled as his little girl woke up from her nightmare.

"What happened?" she asked

"You had a nightmare sweetie." He said, his hands still going through her hair.

"Oh," she said just above a whisper.

"You okay now pumpkin?" he asked, expecting her to shuffle towards Kate. Expecting her to be wary with him, because of the trust issues, that bastard left her with.

She shook her head and heard her say something, he wasn't sure he was going to hear for a while. "Daddy, can you stay with me, just until I fall asleep?"

Like the little girls that used to crawl into his bed when he had a nightmare. He saw that fear in her eyes, except worse. He looked up to Kate who was smiling back at him.

"Move over, Rover." Castle said making Alexis giggle, but only a little.

Alexis rested her head on his chest and Castle kissed her forehead. Kate got up and started to walk out when she heard Castle whisper her name.

"Kate."

She turned around and saw Castle wave her over. When she arrived by his side she knelt down next to him.

"Thank you."

"For what?" she asked genuinely curious.

"For being there for Alexis, helping her to trust me," He answered "Now I can protect her."

"Castle, you have always protected her, even when she couldn't be around you. Truth is you're her dad, she'll always need you." Kate said. She could see the grin on his face widen.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Don't guess, know," she said she leant over and gave him a gentle kiss goodnight, "Night Rick."

"Night."

Kate walked out of the bedroom, slightly shut the door and headed downstairs.

She made sure the front door was locked and walked into Castle's bedroom only to collapse onto his bed. Exhaustion over taking her.

Kate sits up and stares into Rick's office. Her eyes can't help but fall onto the liquor cabinet.

"Sure one of the reasons I didn't want you to drink Rick was because I didn't want you to turn out like my dad, the other reason was so you didn't turn out like me on that stupid sniper case." She said to herself. She got up and shut the door, climbed into the bed, not even bothering getting changed and placed her badge and gun onto the side cabinet.

Kate lied there for a few second, a few seconds turned into, minutes which turned into hours. Kate turned to look at the clock and it was already five o' clock in the morning.

"This is hopeless." She said to herself, as she climbed out of the bed and headed into the living room.

Kate had noticed though, that since Rick had stayed with Alexis she didn't scream during the night from another nightmare.

Kate headed up the stairs and peered into Alexis' bedroom.

The sight in front of her was adorable, it kind of made Kate wish she had her phone on her. So she quickly and quietly ran down the stairs to retrieve it off the couch.

Once she got back to Alexis' room they were in the same position as they were before. Castle lying flat on his back with Alexis' head resting on his chest and her arm draped over him.

Kate quickly took a picture on her phone before she headed downstairs to make coffee.

"Morning." Kate whispered as she entered Alexis' room with a cup of cream two sugars in her hand.

"Morning." Rick whispered back, not moving.

He gently put his hand through Alexis' hair and kissed her on the top of her head.

"Here I made you a coffee." Kate whispered again, careful not to wake the vulnerable girl lying on his chest.

"Thanks." He said weakly.

Kate moved knelt down beside him after she placed his coffee on the side cabinet. She could see the dry tears on his cheeks and wiped them away with her thumb.

They smiled at each other for a brief moment until they both turned to see Alexis stir awake.

Alexis woke up and was surprised to see her dad was still in her bed and saw Kate kneeling next to him.

"Hey pumpkin." Her dad said quietly, with a strained smile.

"Hi," she said with a whisper. Kate and Rick nearly missed her greeting, but got it. "I was hoping it was all a really bad dream, but you guys are here…" she drifted off, still in a whisper.

Fresh tears started to spill down her cheeks and her grip around Rick's torso tightened.

"Hey, Alexis." Rick said trying to soothe her, he sat her up and wiped her tears away. "Your safe now." He said reassuring her.

She slightly nodded and leaned in to his chest with her arms around him. He looked at Kate as if he was asking her permission.

Kate slightly nodded and he slowly put his arms around her, not too tight but enough to give reassurance.

Rick pulled back and looked Alexis in the eyes. "I just want you to know, that whatever happens I will be there for you okay? Always."

"Okay." Alexis whispered again. "I love you daddy."

"I love you too, now go back to sleep okay I'll have breakfast ready in half an hour okay." He said softly.

"Okay."

Rick got off the bed and headed to the corner of her room where a few cuddly toys sat, he grabbed a tatted monkey and headed back to Alexis. "Here is Monkey Bonkey, now try get some sleep." He said. She took the monkey and laid down, her head against the pillow. Rick leant down and gave her a soft kiss on her forehead before heading for the door.

Kate got up from the floor and grabbed Castle's coffee which is now cold. She also leant down and gave Alexis a little kiss on the forehead.

"Goodnight sweetie." She said.

Kate turned to Rick, whom was standing at the door when they heard Alexis mumble something, loud enough for them both to hear.

"Goodnight mom."

**I hope you all enjoyed that, please review **


	20. Chapter 20 The Trial

**Thank you all for your kind reviews I tried to reply to all of them, but if I didn't reply I am truly sorry. Well here is the next chapter, hope you enjoy. **

Chapter 20 –The Trial

"All rise." The bailiff said as the judge walked to her respective seat.

"Kate was thankful that the judge and the head juror were female, hopefully Alexis would get the sympathy vote and Jeremy Carlisle would be put away for a long time.

It's been a month since he attacked Alexis and her friend Paige's party, and Alexis is still having nightmares, she's refusing to eat most of the time and although she's trusted Rick again she's still sceptical.

Alexis was sitting in between Kate and Rick in the courtroom, she refused to look anywhere but straight ahead.

Kate grabbed Alexis's hand. Alexis squeezed it tightly, trying to fight back the tears threatening to pass her eyes.

The judge started to talk about Alex's' case but it was hard to keep her focus on what the Judge was saying. She felt it; she felt his eyes on her. It wouldn't go away and she was scared, like that terrifying night she just wanted him to stop.

Alexis hid her face in her dad's shoulder as the traitorous tears had started to fall.

"Alexis?" he asked in a whisper. "Honey, what's wrong?"

He looked to Kate for answers when he noticed. Jeremy was looking at her with a smug smile on his face. Rick could see the sense of conquer in him and it made him furious. Alexis should be preparing to go to Columbia right now, not in a court room, having to testify, to tell everybody in the room about the horrible night.

Castle sent Carlisle a scowl and then turned his attention to Alexis. He wrapped an arm around her and gently rubbed her back for comfort.

"Make him stop daddy." Alexis whispered for only Rick to hear.

He turned to Alexis and nodded. He slowly stood up and Alexis' head moved from his should to Kate who tried to soothe her.

"Excuse me your honour, sorry to interrupt, but would you mind getting Mr Carlisle to stop staring at my daughter, it's upsetting her." He said, hoping that the judge did so.

She nodded, "Mr Carlisle, please keep your head forward and wipe that smug look off your face."

"Yes ma'am." Jeremy said as he shuffled in his seat.

The judge continued talking again.

Alexis, being the only one there, was the only one who could go on the stand.

The judge called Jeremy Carlisle's Lawyer to Question first.

He called Alexis to the stand and she hesitated.

"I would like to call Alexis Castle to the stand," rings in her ears. She turns to look at her dad.

"Hey, it's going to be okay sweetie we're right here." Rick said to her.

"Alexis Castle." The lawyer repeated.

She slowly walked up to the stand; she remained standing as she took an oath.

She took the seat that remained in the stand. The lawyer came closer and got right to it.

"Miss Castle, is it true that on the night of your 'rape'," he said with air quotes, "You were flirting with my client?"

Rick's fists clenched and his knuckles turned white. He hated how the lawyer called Alexis' attack rape, the word was still raw in his mind and how he said it, making it sound like she was making it all up.

"No." Alexis said bluntly.

"But you were talking to him?" he asked.

"No, well, yes. You see I was hanging around with my friend Paige…"

"Paige is the one who hosted the party? The lawyer asked again.

"Yes, anyway he," she nodded towards Jeremy, "came up to me and started to talk to me after about twenty minutes I excused myself to get away." She said quietly.

"You see my client says that you sent him mixed messages, is that true?" The lawyer asked.

"No!" Alexis exclaimed, tears filling her eyes.

Rick and Kate both wanted to run up and comfort her. They couldn't though, Kate grabbed Rick's hand and he squeezed.

Alexis continued, "He just came up and talked to me I was being polite and stood there for like I said twenty minutes, then I excused myself so I could get away from him."

"Alexis, may I call you Alexis?" he didn't wait for a reply, "Now the thing is, you expected him to follow you didn't you?"

"Hey! Objection, your honour!" Rick shouted from his seat, looking between Alexis' lawyer, the judge and Carlisle's lawyer.

The lawyers and Rick started arguing. The Judge hitting her hammer against a circular object on her stand.

Kate was pulling on Rick's arm, telling him to sit down.

"Order! Order in the court!" the judge exclaimed. "Mr Castle, sit down or you would be held in contempt."

Rick sat down and Kate shuffled closer to him. He put an arm around her and she placed a comforting hand on his leg.

"Miss Castle, I would like for you to answer the question." The Judge said to her.

Alexis had a terrified look on her face. She looked over to her dad and Kate. Kate gave her a reassuring smile and a slight nod.

She took in a deep shaky breath before she started. "No I was no expecting to see him to follow him. I was hoping he would forget about me and leave me alone." Alexis said as her tears she was holding back started to roll down her cheeks.

"Thank you," The Lawyer said to Alexis ad turned to the Judge, "No more questions your Honour."

The Judge nodded in acknowledgement and turned to Alexis' lawyer.

"Mr Blakely," she said.

Blakely stood up and moved in front of the court room.

"Hi Alexis." He said softly.

"Hi." She replied just above a whisper.

"How are you feeling?"

"Sick," she replied honestly, "Could we please just get this over with." Alexis said looking down at her hands.

"Sure." He gave her a weak smile for reassurance. "Alexis, you've told us what happened that night up to the bit where you tried to get away from talking to Mr Carlisle. Would you mind telling the jury what happened after that?" he asked softly.

"No, I can't…" she said quietly. A fresh set of tears making their way down her face.

"I'm sorry Miss Castle, but you're under oath, you have to answer Mr Blakely's question." The Judge said.

Alexis nodded looking back at her hands in her lap. "When…" she said as a whisper, she cleared her throat and started to relive that terrifying night. "When I excused myself from talking to him I went to the bathroom. I came out of the bathroom to find him standing there staring at me. He…" the tears started to come faster; Rick and Kate wanted to go over and comfort her. "I went to walk past him but he grabbed me by my arm and I told him to let me go but he didn't. He just threw me back into the bathroom. He started to walk closer to me so I tried to back away but…" she hesitated for a minute and closed her eyes. She took a shaky breath that everyone had heard.

This was the first time Rick was hearing what actually happened and Kate could see the pain in his eyes.

Alexis continued, "But I backed into the bathroom sink, I was trapped. He pinned me against it. Next thing I know, I was on the floor with him on top of me. I begged him to let me go. I begged, and begged and begged. But he wouldn't. He hit me, and told me to shut up. He placed a hand over my mouth. As I cried, he… he …"

"It's okay Alexis." Blakely said

"As I cried he raped me." That was the first time she said that word since the attack and wanted it to be the last.

Kate squeezed Rick's hand as soundless tears rolled down his face. He wanted to jump up and hold his little girl. Or perhaps kill the son of a bitch who put her through that.

Alexis had started sobbing as the pictures from that night flooded her mind. She had her head in her hands, refusing to look at anyone.

"Alexis, I know this is hard. But I need you to answer one more question for me." Blakely said.

Alexis lifted her head from her hands and nodded.

"Do you have nightmares and memories from that night?"

"Yes." She said quietly.

"As you can see your honour, jury," He said acknowledging the people, "Mr Carlisle has not only attacked Alexis Castle physically, but mentally. Giving her traumatic images of the terrifying event." He turned to the judge and said, "Thank you honour, no more questions." He turned and took a seat next to his second chair.

"Thank you Miss Castle you may go take your seat." The Judge said to Alexis, who couldn't get down from the stand fast enough. Instead of running to her dad and Kate she ran out of the court room. Kate got up and ran after her to make sure she was okay.

The Judge continued and wrapped up the first half of the trial.

Kate saw Alexis running into the woman's bathroom. When Kate entered the bathroom she saw Alexis huddled over the toilet vomiting her heart out.

Kate jogged over to the vulnerable girls and rubbed circles on her back to calm her down. "It's okay Alexis, you're safe now." Kate said in a soft voice, trying to hold back her tears. It broke Kate's heart to see the poor girls like this but; she has to be strong for her and her father.

Alexis finished vomiting and turned around to face Kate. The poor girl was exhausted and Kate could tell.

Kate ripped off some toilet paper and dabbed around Alexis' mouth to wipe off bits of vomit and then threw the toilet paper into the toilet and flushed.

Alexis, still sobbing, crawled into Kate's arms and stayed there for a moment.

Rick didn't care that it was the woman's bathroom. He rushed in there and found Kate holding a sobbing Alexis in her arms in one of the cubicles.

He stopped at the cubicle door, not sure if he should go any further or not.

"Alexis?" he asked just above a whisper.

She looked up from Kate's neck, which was where her head had buried while she cried.

It killed Rick to see his daughter like this, he just wanted to pick her up and put her in her bed, he'd crawl in and read her a story while she was holding Monkey Bonkey. But she wasn't the little six year old afraid of the monster under her bed anymore. No now it was worse.

He crawled into the cubicle sitting opposite from Alexis and Kate. "You are lucky I brought Monkey Bonkey today." He said through a teary smile.

He reached into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out Alexis' stuffed monkey.

A small smile passed her lips as she accepted the little monkey.

"Thank you." She whispered.

"Always, Pumpkin," he said quietly, "The Jury is going to announce the verdict soon, do you want me to go in there and you stay with Kate?" He asked.

Alexis thought about it for a moment then decided. She slowly shook her head before she began to speak. "No, I wanna go and watch the bailiff drag his ass to jail." She said through her tears and determination for justice.

"Alright then," he said looking at his daughter in his girlfriend's arms, "Let's go then."

The three of them exited the bathroom and headed back to the court room only to find a surprise.

Lanie, Ryan and Esposito were all standing outside the court room waiting for them. Rick, Kate and Alexis had no idea they were there, but were grateful that they were.

"Hey Alexis," Lanie greeted her with a hug.

"When did you guys get here?" the red headed girl asked.

"We've been here the whole time," Esposito said.

"We were just sitting in the back." Ryan finished.

"Well," Alexis wasn't sure how to ask her friends, "Would you guys be able to sit with us during the verdict, I'll need my whole family there."

They all smiled and nodded.

A few minutes later Blakely came out and told them that it was time for the verdict.

Alexis grabbed Rick's and Kate's hands and they both gave her hands a gentle squeeze to give her reassurance.

Once everyone settled back into their seats they all had to rise again for the judge.

Alexis sat back down once told, snuggling in between Kate and her dad, with Lanie, Ryan and Esposito behind her. She felt safe again with her family with her.

"Mr Caslow," The Judge said Acknowledging Jeremy's Lawyer. "What is the defendant pleading?"

"My defendant, against his better judgement," he mumbled, "Is pleading not guilty."

"Thank you." The Judge said, gesturing him to sit down.

"Head juror, please stand," The Judge said turning in her seat to face the jury. A girl in her late twenties stood up closer to the stood where Alexis had to sit. "What do you find the defendant, Mr Jeremy Carlisle on sexual assault, guilty or not guilty?"

"They jury finds the defendant, Mr Jeremy Carlisle…" the Juror pauses to look at her notes and lifted her head again. "Guilty for sexual assault against Alexis Castle,"

The word rung in Alexis' ears before they actually sunk in.

The judge slammed her hammer and announced, "Jeremy Carlisle you are sentenced to ten years of Jail for the Sexual Assault of Alexis Castle, bailiff take him away."

Everyone around her stood up and cheered. Alexis was still letting it sink in when her dad had picked her up and spun her around in joy.

Alexis let out a sighed laugh as she had just realised that she had gotten justice and it really was sweet.

Alexis stood and watched as the bailiff put handcuffs on Jeremy and lead him away, the smug look he had on his face had disappeared from his face and was replaced with a worried, uncertain look.

She smiled as she watched him leave; glad she wasn't going to ever see him again.

She turned around to see Kate pulling Alexis into a hug.

"Congratulations Alexis." Kate whispered in her ear.

"Thanks mom." Alexis whispered back.

Kate pulled back from Alexis and looked at her with tears in her eyes.

"Really Alexis, you think of me as your mom?"

"Yeah, you have been here for me, you're my mom." Alexis said smiling.

Kate looked over Alexis' shoulder to see Rick smiling at her with tears in his eyes.

"And you're my daughter." Kate replied going in for another hug.

When they pulled apart Esposito said "This calls for a celebration."

"Drinks at mine?" Rick asked as everyone left the court room.

Everyone agreed and they left to celebrate.


	21. Chapter 21 Celebration

**Thank you all so much for your kind reviews, I am really glad you are all enjoying my story. So here is chapter 21, enjoy. **

Chapter 21- Celebration

Not long after everyone left the court house they all arrived at the loft.

When they all got in Castle retrieved some wine from his liquor cabinet and Kate got the beers for the boys out of the fridge.

Alexis went upstairs to freshen up while everyone was mingling down stairs.

"Alexis hasn't been down for a while." Kate said to Lanie as she was pouring herself her second glass of wine.

"Do you wanna g check up on her?" Lanie asked as she put the bottle back down on the counter top.

"Yeah, I'll be back in a minute." With that Kate headed up the stairs to check on Alexis.

She reached the girls door and lightly knocked, "Alexis, sweetie are you alright?" Kate asked through the door.

There was no answer so she slightly opened the door and peered into the room. The bedroom was vacant and Kate started to worry.

Rick came up behind her; he must've seen Kate go up the stairs and started to worry.

"Is everything okay?" He asked.

"Alexis isn't in her room." Kate answered bluntly.

"I'll check the bathroom." Rick said as he turned around.

Kate followed closely behind him.

When they reached the bathroom they heard Alexis crying.

"Alexis, pumpkin," Rick asked as he lightly knocked on the bathroom door. "Are you alright?"

Rick turned the door handle and opened the door, _thank god she didn't lock it,_ he thought to himself as the crack in the door opened further.

The sight in front of him killed him.

Alexis huddled over the toilet, like how Kate found her. She was vomiting again.

Rick froze, and then he felt Kate brushing pass him.

She ran straight to Alexis' side and rubbing her back as she continued to vomit. Alexis was violently shaking, between each time she vomited.

Kate had seen this before but hoped that she was wrong.

Alexis finished and turned to face her dad and Kate.

A tear soaked face and red puffy eyes, she was scared.

"Please help me." She begged in a whisper.

This brought tears to Rick's and Kate's eyes.

"Come on sweetie." Kate said as she helped Alexis up, "Let's get you to bed."

Kate lead Alexis pass Rick and into her bedroom.

Rick still stood frozen, in the door way of the bathroom, staring into space.

He then crumbled to the floor as the silent tears fought passed his eyes and rolled down his cheeks.

Kate came out of Alexis' bedroom after comforting her and tucking her in.

She turned to see Rick crumpled on the floor and bent down next to him.

She wiped away the tears with her thumb and said, "Come on, you have to be strong for Alexis." She pulled him up and said, "Now are you able to pull yourself together for the others, or would you rather I send them home?"

"No, we are meant to be celebrating, and celebrate we shall." She said as he looked back from Alexis' bedroom door into Kate's eyes. "Just give me a minute. Like you said I need to pull myself together."

"Okay." She whispered.

Kate turned and headed down the stairs to their friends who are waiting for her.

Rick walked over to Alexis' bedroom and crept in. He sat in the chair and watched as she cried silently in her sleep.

"Is everything alright?" Esposito asked as Kate had reached the bottom of the stairs.

"It will be." She said quietly.

"Hey Beckett, if you guys want we can leave." Ryan said, gesturing to the others and him.

"No it's fine you guys can stay, we have some celebrating to do." She said with a smile on her face.

Her friends turned to the liquor and she glanced back upstairs wondering if Rick was okay.

"Hey, Kate," said Lanie questioningly, "Want a wine?"

Kate walked over to her best friend and said, "No thanks."

"A beer then," Lanie asked, "I mean you certainly deserve it."

"No I'm fine Lanie."

"You're off your pain meds now aren't you?" Lanie asked.

Kate looked around the room to see Ryan and Espo deep in a debate and noticed Rick coming down the stairs over to them.

"Yes I am." Kate said turning back to her friend.

"Then why don't you want a drink?"

"Because, I don't feel like one Lanie," Kate said in a laugh.

"Mhmm, Katherine Beckett, there is more to what you're not telling me. And so you know I will find out." Lanie said with the sass she needed to try to intimidate Kate.

Lanie walked off and Kate went to the fridge to grab a bottle of water.

"Oh Lanie you have no idea." Kate said as she closed the fridge door and took a long swig of water after twisting the cap off.

It was ten-thirty by the time everyone left the loft, leaving Rick and Kate to clean up the mess.

Kate picked the beer bottles off the coffee table, she leant back up to feel Rick wrap his arms around her torso and felt gentle kisses trailing down her neck.

They haven't done this for a while. Not since Alexis' attack, perhaps maybe tonight they'd have some time to themselves, their own little celebration.

She turned in his arms, beer bottles still in her hands. She leans her head back and presses her lips against his. The air between them was hot as they pulled apart.

"Are you sure?" Kate asked hesitant.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" He asked as the smile on his face slowly disappeared and was replaced by concern.

"Well, with everything that's happened lately. I just wasn't sure." Kate whispered.

He smiled at her concern and leant down to pick her up over his shoulder. She shrieked in surprise and started to playfully hit him to tell him to let her down.

"Castle, put me down!" she shrieked again.

"You sure?" he asked as he quickly manoeuvred his body so he could get the beer bottles, that she happened to be hitting him with and placed them back on the coffee table.

She was now hitting him with closed fists as he tried to jog to the bedroom with her over her shoulder.

"Now detective, are you sure you want to be put down?" He asked again.

She pretended to think about it for a minute before she proudly said, "Yes."

He flipped her back off his shoulder and she bounced on to the bed.

He climbed on top and straddled her.

He leant down and placed a firm kiss to her lips. She reacted by sliding her tongue into his mouth and started to grind her hips against him.

She wanted him, and as much as she usually tried to hide it. She just couldn't.

His hand trailed down her side, making her shiver to his touch. His hand slid up the hem of shirt, which made her back arch towards him.

His hand slid up her back and he pulled her towards him to free her of the shirt. He pulled it smoothly off her as she tugged his belt off from around his pants.

While she was unzipping his flyer he pulled off his own shirt.

She placed a hand down his pants and could feel him hard around her hand.

She flipped them over and went back to kissing him on the mouth, leaving her hand in his pants.

She left trails of kisses down his chest, his stomach and pull his pants off and then his boxers.

Kate rolled off him to pull her own pants down. She got her slacks off, when Rick rolled back on top of her.

He started to pull her underwear down and Kate pulled his head up to her face and brought his mouth onto hers.

Their hips grinding together, hard and fast, Kate pulled her mouth away from Rick's and whispered, "Now this is what I call celebrating."

That earned a chuckle from him as they continued into the night.

The sun wasn't out yet, or if it was, it was hiding behind clouds. When Kate awoke her head was comfortable on his chest and his breathing almost put her back to sleep.

Then she felt it in the pit of her stomach. _No not again, _she thought to herself as she tried to hold it down.

The last week when this was happening he was upstairs with Alexis, but now he's here, with her and he'll ask questions.

It came back up again and she couldn't keep it down. She ran out of the bed and headed for the toilet.

Castle awoke as soon as he felt Kate pull the blankets off her.

He lifted his head up immediately alerted, and then he saw her run into the toilet.

"Kate?" he asked as the door shut.

He got up out of bed and put his boxers on.

He ran to the door and was about to knock on it when he heard her vomiting.

"Kate?" he asked again, "Am I able to come in?"

He heard a muffled sound on the other side of the door. Unsure whether it was permission or not, he opened the door to see he head in the toilet and she was shaking violently.

"Kate?" he asked as he rushed over to her. He pulled her hair out of her face with one hand and rubbed soothing circles with the other. "Are you okay?"

Her head jolted in a nod as she started vomiting again.

"I'll be back." He said as he quickly got up and ran from the bathroom into the kitchen to get a bottle of water for her. He rapidly opened the fridge door and grabbed the first bottle of water her could see. He then ran back to the ensuite bathroom to see Kate in the same position as before.

"Here." He said as he passed her the bottle of water. She looked up to see him handing her a bottle of water. She went to reach out for it with shaky hands and then he quickly pulled it back to unscrew the cap and passed it back to her.

She took it gratefully and smiled as well as leaning back against the wall to take a moment to breath.

She took a sip and he saw the tears rolling down her face from the vomiting, so he decides to move next to her and he wrapped and arm around her, pulling her closer to him.

"Come on, let's put you back into bed." He said as he was about to pick her up bridal style.

"I'm fine Rick; I'll just need to let it pass. It usually takes about twenty minutes." She said weakly.

He placed her on the bed, and laid the sheet over her body. "Usually, Kate how long has this been going on?" he asked as he wiped her sweaty forehead.

"About a week." She said truthfully.

"Wait a week?" He asked, "Kate why hadn't you told me?"

"Rick we've had Alexis to look after. She's more important than a hunch at the moment." She trailed off.

"A hunch," he sat on the bed and Kate sat up a bit to look him in the eye. The sunlight was peering through the curtain now. "Kate… what hunch?"

She was about to answer when they heard a knock on the door. He was about to wave it off but then he realised it could be Alexis.

"Just give us a second Alexis." He said through the door.

He hopped off the bed and grabbed two of his t-shirts he chucked one to Kate so she could have something on to keep her comfortable. He pulled one over his head and opened the door to see his daughter beaming up at him.

He walked out of the room and closed the door behind him to give Kate privacy.

"You seem happy pumpkin." He said as he turned around only to be tackled by Alexis giving him a bone crushing hug.

"I am, because today is the day that I can move on from the pass month." The young girl whispered.

"Well to start your day how about I make some breakfast?" he asked more than happy to see his girl back to how she was before everything went down.

"Yes please." They started to leave the study but Alexis turned around. "Where's Kate?" she asked.

"She's not feeling very well but I'm going to take some breakfast to her later." He said with a smile.

"Okay." She answered as she led her dad out of the study.

"So pumpkin, what do you want for breakfast?" he asked as he reached the kitchen.

"Um, well not the smorlet that you got me to taste." She said with her bubbly personality showing.

"Hey that is my favourite breakfast dish, do you think Kate would like it?" he asked slightly hopeful.

"Maybe, but it wouldn't be a good idea to give it to her if she is sick." Alexis said with a slight giggle.

"That's true," he said with a sudden realisation, "So pancakes it is?" he asked

"Perfect." She said as she sat at the counter.

They were quiet for a moment, until a sound made them snap their heads to the front door. The loud noise of the door slamming shut startled Alexis, with her instincts kicking in she ran upstairs and into her room.

A panic attack hit her as soon as she closed the door. She crawled up into a ball and the anxiety took over. She was scared, in her own home. If anything she was angry that she couldn't move on, today she was meant to make a new start for herself, but no her body and mind would let her.

_Huh, _she thought to herself, _some celebration._


	22. Chapter 22 Back Again

**Thank you so much for all your kind reviews I was so happy to see them. **** So let's move on with chapter 22. **** This is a continuation of the previous chapter by the way ;)**

Chapter 22- Back Again.

The door slammed, which sent Alexis into action. Flying upstairs, not giving Rick enough time to calm her down.

"Richard?" Martha asks in confusion.

Last time she was up, she found out that he and Kate were together. However she only came up to retrieve a few things that she left up here, and headed back down to the Hamptons.

"Mother," He said in a sigh, worried for Alexis he went towards Martha to give her a quick kiss on the cheek, before going up the stairs, leaving her confused he said to her, "I'm sorry, I'll explain once I make sure Alexis is okay." And with that he was gone up the stairs, not to be seen.

"Martha?" Kate asked confused of what the older woman was doing standing by the door and not sitting down relaxing.

"Kate, what on earth is going on?" The woman asked frustrated.

"Martha, I'm sorry I have been meaning to call you, but I was busy looking after Alexis and Rick. I'm sorry I should've called you straight away, but it was so late…" Kate said rambling.

"Kate, dear, why don't you start from the beginning?" Martha said leading Kate to the couch.

"Well about a month ago, Alexis went to her friend Paige's party and…" Kate took a breath and continued, choosing her words carefully, "And… she was attacked by a boy. We just had the trial and he's gone away for a long time. We actually only had the trial yesterday." Kate stopped to look at her boyfriend's mother, taking in her expression of disbelief.

"That's why she ran upstairs when the door slammed…" she murmured to herself.

"Yeah, we've been walking on eggshells, trying not to scare her." Kate said answering the older woman.

"That is just awful." Martha said, still in disbelief of someone wanting to hurt her grand-daughter.

"I'm sorry, Martha I was going to call you but I was just trying to hold this family together." Kate whispered as tears appeared at her eyes.

Martha took her hand and said, "Kate listen to me, thank you for being here for my family. Even though I wish I did know sooner, I'm glad they had you to look after them."

Kate smiled and leaned in to give Martha a hug and they stayed like that until Rick came back down the stairs.

"What are you doing out of bed?" He asked almost immediately.

"I told you it doesn't last that long." Kate said

He rolled his eyes and looked at his mother, "So you heard?" he asked quietly.

She simply nodded and got up off the couch to give her son a reassuring hug, letting him know that she was there for the family.

They pulled apart and they smiled at each other. Then almost in sync they turned to look at Kate, whom was now standing watching them.

"Is Alexis in her room?" Martha asked Rick.

He nodded. "She's not opening the door to me." He said pinching the bridge of his nose and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Can I go talk to her?" Martha asked hesitantly.

"Yeah… sure, that'd be great." He replied jerking his head in a nod, full of disbelief.

"I'll be back in a minute." She said turning to Kate and giving her a smile.

Martha headed up the stairs and in seconds she was out if their sight.

Rick turned to Kate and walked closer to her, wrapping his arms around her slim figure.

"Hey." She whispered.

"Hey." He replied. He bent down to kiss her on the cheek.

She gently placed her hand on his cheek and made him look at her. Kate could see the pain in his eyes, from having to watch his own daughter go through every day struggle to bring herself to do her normal activities.

"I thought she was improving." He whispered, fighting the tears that were stinging his eyes.

"I did too." Kate whispered. Kate grabbed his hand and led him to the couch.

"She doesn't deserve this." He said as he sat down, the traitorous tears rolling down his cheeks.

"I know," Kate said as she used her thumb to wipe away his tears, "But now, we just have to band together to help her through this."

He nodded and let out a teary smile.

"Thank you." He whispered.

She smiled at him and gave him a gentle kiss on the lips, "Always." She whispered back.

"Alexis, kiddo, its grams, can we talk?" Martha asks through the door after knocking.

The door slightly opened as a tear stained face peeked around the door.

Martha's face softened at the sight of the broken girl in front of her.

Alexis turned to her bed and left the door open for Martha to enter. Martha walked in to see her grand-daughter sitting on the edge of the bed waiting.

"So kiddo, what's up?" Martha asked.

"Today was going to be a new beginning for me, a chance for me to forget _everything_ that's happened in the past month." The sobs started again and Martha pulled Alexis into a hug.

"Kiddo, I'm going to be honest here. There is a rare chance you'll be able to forget everything that happened that night, right away. However you have a family here to support you every step of the way and we can give you the right help to move on from this, okay." Martha said. She could feel Alexis nodding against her.

"Grams," Alexis asked hesitantly, "Please don't leave again. Please stay.

Right there and then Martha couldn't see the girls she knew before she left to the Hamptons, but the vulnerable four year old girl, who was scared of the monster under her bed and afraid her dad would leave her like her mom.

"Alexis dear, I'm here whenever you need me. I'm not going anywhere. I'm back again and I'm here for good. Do you understand?"

Alexis looked at Martha and nodded.

Martha smiled at the red head and used her thumb to wipe away the remainder tears from her cheeks.

"That's a good girl, now dry those eyes and meet me downstairs."

Martha started to exit the room when Alexis called her. "Grams?"

"Yes darling?" Martha replied.

"Thanks." Alexis simply said, attempting a smile.

Martha could see right through the mask, but thought it'd be better not to call her on it.

"No problem." She replied and exited out of the bedroom, heading back downstairs to Rick and Kate.

"How is she?" Rick asked, shooting up from the couch as soon as he saw his mother.

"She'll cope," Martha said vaguely, "It'll take time, but she'll cope."

He nodded and hugged Martha. "Thanks mother." He said forcing a smile.

"Just like your daughter." She murmured.

He looked at her confused but she waved it off. Martha turned to Kate, whom was keeping her distance and was standing by the couch. Martha walked over to Kate and gave her a hug.

Martha whispered into her ear, "Thank you, for holding my family together."

Kate returned the hug with a squeeze and replied, "Always."

**I know it's only a short chapter but I thought I should bring Martha back into it. So I hope you all enjoyed it **


	23. Chapter 23 Time Out

**Please, please don't kill me… I know I know I haven't updated in aaaaaaggggeeeessss. Again I am so sorry. But here is the next chapter, thank you all for your kind words on my story so far. So let's go forth and continue with the story. Again I am so, so, sorry. Just hadn't had time because of school, so please leave me breathing and like the next chapter **

**Disclaimer: I Know I haven't written one of these, but everyone else has and just in case some of you are confused, no I don't own any of the characters from Castle or Castle itself… if anyone wants to help me buy Castle I would be glad, but until that day… I don't **

Chapter 23 – Time Out

"Richard?" Martha asked from across the breakfast bar, "Why don't you and Kate do something for the day, you know out of the house. You two are so stressed and it is radiating off you on to me." She stated dramatically.

Kate smiled at the older red head of the family and turned to look at Rick.

"I don't know," he replied, "I don't want to leave Alexis alone." He said as he looked down at the marbled bench top.

"She won't be alone, Castle. Your mother will be here." Kate said, gently rubbing his back.

"That is why I don't want to leave her alone." Rick stated, earning a chuckle from Kate and causing his mother to roll her eyes at him.

"Come on dad," they all turned to see Alexis at the bottom of the stairs, none of them realising she was standing there. "You need to relax; I'll be fine with grams, besides I need to talk to her anyway." Alexis said, now approaching them at the breakfast bar.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

Alexis was now standing next to him and raised her eyebrows at her father, "Please, I'll be fine, plus I think you and Kate need to have time to yourselves, I'm pretty sure she is dying to have some alone time with you." Alexis said with a slight giggle, Kate had gone slightly red from embarrassment and smiled at Alexis.

"Fine, but call me if you need anything, and I mean ANYTHING." He said with emphasis.

"Yes dad." She said with a sigh as she leant into his big build. He wrapped his arms around her and let out a small sigh.

"Okay," he said as they broke away from their hug and he turned to Kate, who was now standing next to Martha opposite him and Alexis. "What are we doing today?"

She leant in, her elbows on the counter top. "How about you show me your little hidden coffee shop, where you get my coffee, and then we head to the park?" she said, one of her eyebrows raised.

"Hmm, deal." He said, closing in the gap to give her a soft kiss on the lips. He pulled away and asked, "You want the first shower?"

"No you have it; I need to clean up _your_ mess anyway." She said giving him _the_ glare.

Castle hopped off his seat, walked around the island and gave Kate a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be back soon." He whispered quietly in her ear.

"Get a room." Alexis and Martha said in unison.

They all laughed for a bit then Castle left the room for his shower and Kate made her way towards the other woman.

"Alexis would you like some breakfast?" Kate asked.

"Yes please." Alexis said hopping on her dad's bar stool.

"Okay would you like some of your dad's pancakes or bacon and eggs?"

"The pancakes would be fine thank you." Alexis said smiling at Kate.

Kate used the spatula and placed a few pancakes on a plate and handed them over to Alexis.

The three women made small talk while Kat was cleaning up the mess in the kitchen.

Twenty minutes later, Rick and Kate were ready for their day out.

They said goodbye to Martha and Alexis and headed to the street.

They decided to walk because they needed the fresh air, well as fresh as New York air could be.

They got to the corner of Castle's street and he pulled her into a little corner shop, with no warning that they were going into the building that Kate always thought was a little restaurant, which happened to be a café.

"This is the place?" Kate asked, astounded by the shop.

'Don't judge it until you have tasted their homemade pretzels. Yes this café makes pretzels." He added once he saw her jaw drop at the sound of homemade pretzels.

"Ricky!" said the barista.

"Bobby! Hey man, how are you?" Castle asked, as a man in his fifties approached the, giving Rick a 'man' hug.

"I'm great Ricky, we just extended our lease and we're gonna be here for another four years. Oh hello," he said once he saw Kate, "Ricky, is this Grande skim latte, double pump sugar free vanilla?" he asked excited.

"She is, Bobby this is Kate Beckett." He said introducing Kate, who extended her hand to shake.

"Oh no sweet heart, we don't do handshakes, we hug each other around here." Bobby said wrapping his arms around Kate, lifting her off the ground and spinning her around. Rick stood there laughing as Kate was placed back on the coffee shop's floor.

"I have been begging Ricky to bring ya down here, but he kept saying 'not yet ma friend'." Bobby's thick Italian and New Jersey accent lacing over his words as he continued, "Ya know he never stops talkin' about ya."

Kate looks over to Rick, eye brows raised. "Oh really?" she askes

"Oh ya, Beckett this, Beckett that, sometimes he even squeezed your first name, Kate this, ya know?" he said.

"No I don't, please tell me more," She said looking back at Bobby, trying to hide the laugh building up in her.

Castle was bright red from embarrassment. "No, you really don't have to." He said giving Bobby a Beckett glare.

"Ah, maybe another time," said Bobby, crashing under Castles glare.

"Hmm, I might have to take you up on that." She said looking back at Castle, whom was giving her an innocent smile.

"So the usual Ricky," Bobby asked as he was heading back to the counter and the register.

"Yes please Bobby, and can we have two of your homemade pretzels please?"

"Absolutely, so Ricky how's our little Alexis doin', good?" Bobby asked as he was making their coffees.

"Yeah she is doing okay, she graduated a couple of months ago from high school, and she's just getting ready to move to Columbia." He said, avoiding the conversation on Alexis' attack.

"Oh that's good." Bobby placed their coffees on the counter and grabbed a napkin, to place their fresh pretzels on. He placed the tongs back in their little holder and handed the pretzels to Kate, as Castle pulled his wallet out and handed the money to Bobby. "So Columbia aye?" he asked

"Yeah, it feels like yesterday that I was checking under her bed to see if the Bogey Man was there or not." He said as Kate gave him his pretzel.

"Yeah it's amazin' how they grow so fast." He said.

Rick and Kate both leaned down to pick their coffees up.

"And how's your boy?" Rick said smiling at Bobby.

"Mickey? Mickey, he's good, he's turnin' sixteen next week. We just met his girlfriend Johanna yesterday, gorgeous girl, funny enough she look a lot like you Kate." He stated, leaning against the counter, cash register in between his arms.

Kate's eyes widened, shock filling her. She looks down at her coffee and mutters, "Yeah, funny."

"Anyway, I better leave you two to ya day, seeya Ricky, nice to meet you Kate." Bobby said with a smile, not registering the shock in Kate and Rick, who, when Kate looked at him, was just as shock as him.

"You too," Kate said with a smile.

"Seeya, Bobby." Rick said, slowly recovering from what his friend had said.

Rick and Kate walked out of the little corner café and headed to the park, with their coffees and pretzels in each hand.

"Could it really be her?" Kate voiced after fifteen minutes of uncomfortable silence.

"I don't know." He simply answered as the entered the park.

The two sat on a little picnic table by the south entrance, the first table they saw. Kate placed her empty coffee cup in the bin, and bit into the remaining half of the pretzel.

"So what do you want to do, I mean Kate, that could be your daughter." Rick said looking at her from his opposite position on the table.

"Hmm, you're right, best pretzel ever." Kate said changing the subject.

"Kate…" He trailed off.

"What could I do Castle? Walk up to her next time she happens to walk into the corner café with Mickey and say, what exactly? 'Hi nice to meet you Johanna, oh guess what I am your biological mother, that gave you up for adoption when you were born, because I couldn't raise a child at nineteen and also look after my alcoholic father!" Kate exclaimed, tears forming in her eyes.

"Kate, you did what was right. She would understand." Castle said, moving from his seat next to Kate. He wrapped an arm around her and she leaned her head into the arch of his neck.

"She probably doesn't know she is adopted." Kate whispered, "I couldn't walk into her life and tear it apart, Castle."

"Okay, we will leave it." He said understandingly.

"Thank you." She whispered looking up at him, through tear filled eyes.

"Always." He replied. She put her head back on his shoulder and let the silent tears fall.

A few minutes later, Kate pulled back and looked down at her pretzel.

"Want it?" she asked, the tears from minutes before staining her face.

"Don't you like it?" He asked.

"No I do. But I just don't feel like eating it," She admitted.

Castle shook his head and looked at his remaining pretzel on the picnic table. They sat their watching a few birds, slowly picking at the pretzel.

Castle and Beckett looked at each other and smiled, "Here you go." He said as he took the pretzel from Kate's hands and placed it next to his.

More birds came down as they got up from the picnic table.

They started to walk further into the park when Castle turned to look at Kate, "Kate?" he asked hesitantly.

"Yeah?" she replied.

"When you were sick earlier this morning, you said that it was just a hunch…" he trailed off, afraid of starting up a fight.

"Yeah, well it is I mean, I'm late and I have been sick for the past week. I haven't taken a test though." She said calmly. "I have had all of the symptoms before, with Johanna."

"So it's a possibility?" he asked slowly.

"Yeah… I guess it is." She replied as equally slowly.

He quickly stood in front of Kate and held bot of her hands at their sides.

"Do you want to find out?" he asked, looking straight into her eyes.

Kate felt a shiver course through her when his deep blue eyes were staring into her hazel green ones.

"I don't know do you?" she asked.

"Yeah, I kinda do."

"Okay," she said, "Let's go?"

A smile played on Ricks lips as she spoke, he let go of her hands and placed his arm around her waist.

They walked out of the park and to the road to the closest pharmacy.

"So what are we looking for, exactly?" Castle asked once they were in the pregnancy test isle.

"You're such a man." Kate said, rolling her eyes at him.

He put down the box he was holding and looked at her, "What happened to me being metrosexual?" he asked, wagging his eyebrows.

"Oh you still are, except when it comes to this stuff." She says, pulling a box out and putting it into the basket.

"Call it genetic." He said looking back at the shelves.

"What with the whole human race?" she asked.

"Yes if you must know." He said as he picked her up.

"No Castle, put me down." She said in a laugh.

"Fine." He said as he put her back down.

"Good boy." Kate said as she straightened out her clothes and turned back to the tests.

"So how many do you need?" he asked.

"Probably about three, just to be sure."

Kate grabbed another test from the shelves and placed it in the basket.

"That is three." She said looking in the basket.

"Okay, let's get home."

They headed to the counter, when Castle got side tracked by an orange and blue squishy elephant key ring.

"Ooooh this is so awesome."

"Castle… really?" Kate asked, already at the counter.

The cashier just laughed to herself.

"I swear it's like being with a nine year old on a sugar rush." Kate said as she and the cashier laughed.

"Oh my god, they have a little toy elephant just like the Key Chain!" Castle said excitedly as he came to the counter with a medium sized orange and blue elephant in his hands.

"Castle, you're not serious are you?" Kate asked, as he placed the elephant with the tests.

"This could be our child's first toy, you know, if you are." He said innocently.

"And if I'm not?"

"Alexis can have it." He said, determined to buy the soft toy.

"Fine." She said as she stepped aside as he paid.

"Well," he said as they exited the pharmacy, "let's go and find out if you are pregnant." He said as he held her hand, with his right hand and the elephant under the other arm.

Kate rolled her eyes as she carried the bag, which could determine whether or not they're going to have a baby together.

**So here it is, again I am so sorry that I haven't updated in ages, but here it is, a little happy chapter. Please read and review **


	24. Chapter 24 The Best Surprise To Come

**Wow, I am slow at writing at one stage, next stage I'm freaking fast. Aren't I weird, anyway here is the next chapter I hope you all enjoy it ****  
P.S Thank you for all your reviews and following ****  
P.P.S I will start doing disclaimers now **

**Disclaimer: In the words of Mike Royce "If only…."**

Chapter 24 – The Best Surprise To Come**.**

When Rick and Kate arrived home, the loft was empty. They walked into the kitchen and saw Alexis left a note on the breakfast bar.

"Looks like mother took Alexis out for the day." Rick said as he placed the elephant on the counter top.

"Cool." Kate said slightly nervous

The room fell silent for a moment, and then Rick spoke up. "Okay, let's discuss the other elephant in the room," he started when Kat giggled at his words, he continued once she stopped giggling, "Are you nervous?" he asked, turning serious.

Kate walked up to him and wrapped her arms around him; he also wrapped his arms around her and placed a kiss on her head.

"I don't know." She whispered into his chest, Kate turned her head so her ear was against his chest, listening to his heart beating

"If you want, we can wait until tomorrow?" he asked.

Kate pulled out of the hug and looked up to him; she leant up and gave him a soft kiss. "No, we need to know, give me a minute." Kate said. She walked out of the room into his bathroom, which was more like theirs now.

As Kate was doing the tests he got them a glass of water. He placed the glasses on the coffee table and sat on the couch waiting.

A couple minutes later Kate came out into the living room, the test in her hand and he hair covering her features.

"Kate?" He asked as moved forward onto the edge of his seat.

"Yeah," she said lifting her head up into a smile.

"Well, I didn't think I would have to beg for it, but what does it say?"

"Oh this, well let's just say we will need the elephant." Kate replied jokingly as she chucked the test at him.

He looked down at it and looked at her, his face growing with a smile.

"We are going to have a baby?" he asked full of disbelief.

"We are going to have a baby." She replied.

He ran up to her, picked her up and spun her around.

They laughed as he put her down.

He kissed her lips, softly. She could feel the smile grow, if that was even possible, against her lips.

They broke apart as they heard the door open. They turned to see Alexis and Martha walk through the door.

"Okay, why is there an elephant on the counter?" Alexis asked as she walked into the kitchen.

Martha followed her to the kitchen and grabbed a glass and wine from the fridge.

"Oh, it's for the baby." Kate said casually.

"What baby?" Martha and Alexis asked in unison.

"Kate's pregnant." Castle said as he snaked one of his arms around her waist.

"What!?" Alexis asked as she ran up to Kate and her dad and gave them a hug.

"Congratulations." Martha said walking up to the other three and gave Kate a hug, then moved to her son.

"This calls for a celebration." Castle said as he made his way to his phone.

"Excuse me?" Kate asked following him.

"Cel-e-bra-tion." Castle enunciated, "You know people do that when something good happens." He said.

"Was that smartass or jackass?" she asked.

"Actually that was smartass." He said with a grin on his face.

Kate rolled her eyes at him and grabbed his phone out of his hand. "No, first I want to see an OB/GYN and tell my father before the whole world finds out okay." She said.

"What?" he asked and looked over to his mother and daughter. "What is this craziness?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"She's right dad, she needs to tell her father and see how far along she is first." Alexis said crossing her arms.

"Fine." He sighed, giving in.

"Thank you." She said as she gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

Castle could tell Kate was spending too much time with Alexis, simply because they are starting to do the same things.

"Yeah, yeah." He said, trying to stop the smile creep its way back onto his lips, "Can we at least celebrate between us?" he asked.

"Sure, but I can't be bothered going out." Kate said

"Me neither." Alexis said as she plumped herself on the sofa.

"I'm fine right here kiddo." Martha said as she rose up her glass of wine.

"Order in it is then." Castle said as he took his phone back from Kate, "Anything in particular?" He asked.

"I would love Italian." Alexis said.

"Is everyone okay with that?" Castle asked.

And in return he got a chorus of yes please from his mother and girlfriend.

"I'll order it then." He said as he started to dial the number.

Kate walked into their bedroom and grabbed her phone and dialled the number she was all too familiar with.

"Captain Victoria Gates." Said the voice other end of the line.

"Hi sir, it's Detective Beckett." Kate replied.

"Hello Detective, how are you?" Gates asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Kate said as she sat down on the bed, silently shaking from nerves. "And how are you?" Kate asked in return.

"I'm well thank you detective." Gates answered, "Is there something I can help you with detective?"

"Ah yeah, I just wanted to know if I was able to return to work next week?" Kate asked shyly.

"Absolutely Detective, come back when everything is sorted. How is Alexis?" Gates asked genuine concern filled Kate's ears.

"She is better, still has nightmares but she's moving pass it." Kate answered.

"One would expect nightmares." Gates said, "Well I hope she can move pass this incident soon, she is a bright young lady, and despite what you might think you are a great influence on her."

"Thank you sir."

"So I will see you next week?" Gates asked.

"Yes sir."

"Okay, I will see you then, have a good night Detective."

"You too."

With that Kate hung up her phone and let out the breath she was unconsciously holding in.

"Kate?" she heard a voice ask.

"Yeah?" Kate replied.

"Can I come in?" it was Alexis at the door.

"Sure Alexis, what's up?" Kate asked.

"Uh, well…" Alexis trailed off as she sat down on the bed next to Kate.

"Alexis?" Kate asked, "You know you can talk to me about anything right?" Kate encouraged.

"Yeah I know, I was just wondering, you don't happen to have a spare test do you?" Alexis asked quietly, her hands shaking.

"Oh Alexis, well I brought three, and I actually only used one so yeah I do. Come on." Kate said as she took Alexis' hand and walked her to the bathroom.

There was a shopping bag on the basin and Kate grabbed a test out of it.

"Here you go I'll be right out here if you need me." Kate said.

"Thanks Kate."

"No problem." Kate shut the door and sat back on the bed and waited for Alexis.

"Is everything okay in here?" Castle asked as he entered the bedroom.

Kate started to panic, unsure of how Alexis would feel walking out of the bathroom to see her dad as well as Kate waiting for her.

"Yes now leave," Kate ordered as she turned him around and pushed him out the door.

"What?" he asked as the door closed behind him.

As Kate turned around she saw Alexis walk out of the bathroom, looking at the test.

"Alexis?" Kate asked.

Kate slowly walked over to the girl.

She handed the test to Kate and Kate looked at the test then at Alexis.

"Oh my god." Kate whispered

She looked up to see the silent tears stream down Alexis' face.

**I know it's so short, but that my friends, is my cliff hanger. Can you guess what the result is? I know I took forever to upload it but I have been studying for my exams and I have been hooked into the TV show leverage. We recently had Armageddon in New Zealand, and I met a few actors from supernatural and I met Mark Pellegrino (Lucifer) who was also on Castle on the Blue Butterfly episode as Tom Dempsey and Tom Dempsey III. Jim Beaver (Bobby) and Aldis Hodge (Jake Talley) and was also on castle in season one as Azi in "Always buy retail" and he gave me his necklace because I gave him my bracelet **** so that is my reason for not uploading. Sorry and I hope you enjoy.**


	25. Chapter 25 Broken

**Okay everybody here is my next chapter. Hope you all like the answer to all the questions that were probably reeling through heads. Enjoy****. By the way sorry for taking so long I had exams and I had trouble coming up with an idea for this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

Chapter 25 - Broken

Kate fumbled with the test in her hands, looking form Alexis to the test and back again.

Kate immediately dropped the test and gathered the girl in her arms. She held her tightly as Alexis sobbed her heart out.

"What's taking you two so long?" Rick asked as he stepped into the bedroom, he stopped to see the sight in front of him. "What's wrong?" he asked as he stepped forward to his broken daughter and his girlfriend cradling her.

"Alexis?" he asked again.

Alexis' head rose from where it was buried in Kate's shoulder, she looked at her dad through bleary eyes.

"Daddy…" she whispered as she peeled herself away from Kate and ran into Rick's arms. Instantly he wrapped her up in a tight hug and whispered comforting words into her ear.

He looked over a Kate questioningly; still unsure of what was going on.

"Alexis, your dad needs to know what's going on." Kate said barely above a whisper.

Alexis unsteadily and slowly pulled herself away from her dad. She looked up at him looking into his deep confused blue eyes. Alexis took a deep shaky breath and whispered the three words that changed all their lives.

"Daddy, I'm pregnant." She whispered.

"What?" he asked, his brow furrowed and he started to feel the anger course through his body.

"I'm sorry dad." Alexis said as more tears ran down her cheek.

"Why are you sorry," Kate said as she grew closer to Alexis, "This isn't your fault Alexis, and your father and I will support any decisions you make, right Rick?" Kate asked looking at the clearly frustrated man in front of her.

"I'm sorry, I gotta go." Rick said as he rushed out the bedroom door through the lounge and kitchen and out the front door into the dark night.

Alexis stood there and watched as her dad walked out on her, when she needed him the most. Alexis fell to her knees and cried Kate bent down next to her and comforted Alexis.

Moments later Martha walked in and saw Kate and Alexis on the floor. She leant down in front of her granddaughter and her son's girlfriend, and placed her hands on theirs as Alexis filled her in. when Alexis finished, Martha pulled her in to a hug and did the rest of the comforting. Kate stood and told Martha and Alexis she was going to look for Rick.

She left the two and headed for the door.

Rick ran out of his apartment as fast as he could, he didn't bother with the elevator and took the stairs to the lobby. Castle ran out into the street, but he didn't stop there, he continued running into oncoming traffic blinded by the tears working their ways up he didn't see the car coming towards him.

Kate got to the street as she saw Rick flipping in the air.

"NO!" Kate yelled as she saw him landing hard on the concrete. Kate ran through the traffic trying not to get hit as well, the yellow cab was just sitting there. The driver got out and stood over Rick when Kate got there. Kate pushed passed him and leaned over Rick, she shouted to the driver, "Don't just stand there call 911!"

Kate turned back to Rick and saw to scrapes all over his hands and face. His eyes were closed and Kate leaned down to his face and placed her ear close to his nose and mouth, she waited and waited.

She couldn't hear or feel him breathing, she looked down to his chest and it wasn't moving up and down. She placed two fingers over the pulse on his neck. For a moment she couldn't feel anything the she felt a throb hit her fingers.

He had a pulse, she could barely feel it, but it was there.

"Come on Rick stay with me." Kate begged silently. She placed a hand on his face and used her thumb to wipe the blood that was falling from his forehead.

"They'll be ten minutes." The cab driver said.

"We might not have ten minutes!" Kate yelled back, "Tell them we need and ambulance within five minutes tops!"

She turned back to Rick, tears blurring her vision she said, "Do not die on me Richard Castle, you cannot die on me, you have a daughter and a mother waiting for you upstairs. You have me here and our unborn child, we need you Rick. We need you! Do you hear me Rick?" Kate started to shout as the tears were falling, she could hear sirens getting closer.

Kate turned to look back at the loft hoping Alexis and Martha weren't watching, fortunately they weren't.

Kate turned back to Rick and just watched hoping he would open his eyes and smile just once more for her.

Before she knew it the ambulance pulled up and started to work on Castle. They put a neck brace on and steadily, yet quickly lifted him on to a gurney.

In the blink of an eye Castle was already in the back of the ambulance, the EMT turned around just as he was about to close the doors, he turned to look at Kate.

"Do you want a ride to the hospital with him?" he asked.

Kate simply nodded as she climbed in the back of the ambulance and sat next to the EMT. She couldn't take her eyes off Castle lying there as they placed an oxygen mask on him.

Time flew in the ambulance, when they arrived at the hospital the EMT's quickly rushed Rick to the ER and Kate closely followed behind them, when she was stopped by a nurse.

"Sorry ma'am, you can't go in there." She said quietly.

"Please, I need to see him." Kate said tears.

"Not while doctors are working on him honey." The nurse said as she was trying to comfort Kate. "Come on, let's get you a seat." The nurse put an arm around Kate's back and led her to a seat.

Kate mouthed a silent thank you as the nurse gave her a sympathetic smile and returned to the ER.

Kate went for her phone and realised it was on her and Rick's bed back at the loft.

She tossed her head back and sighed. Sometimes a single second could last a lifetime and for Kate the second that would never end was the one when she watched Rick's gurney rush pass her. When she saw a doctor she pulled him back to ask questions.

He turned around and he looked at Kate, the familiar brown eyes looked at her with sympathy.

"Josh?" she asked above a whisper, "What, why does he need a heart surgeon?" she asked.

"Kate, I can't go into detail because I need to get up there quickly, so I'll just say from the impact of the crash he broke four ribs and cracked several others, one of the rib bones has lodged itself next to the heart and has pierced his lung, they need me to be there just in case the bone moves and pierces his heart. Kate I really need to go, I promise you I will make sure he comes out of this." Josh finished and quickly went in the elevator up to the OR.

Kate took a deep breath and wiped away the remainder tears that were rolling down her face.

Kate went back to her seat when she saw the lady next to her with her phone.

Kate politely waited for the lady to finish before she asked to borrow the phone.

"Excuse me, would I be able to borrow your phone for a minute?" Kate asked through choked sobs.

The woman looked at her with uncertainty before she sighed and handed Kate her phone, "Here you go." She said.

"Thanks." Kate whispered. She turned around and dialled the number of Ryan's desk phone. Hoping he was there she quietly whispered to herself "Come on, come on." More for Rick to make it, than for Ryan to pick up his phone, after four rings there was an answer on the other end.

"Ryan," The young detective said.

"Hey Ryan it's, uh, Kate." She said trying to clear her throat of the sobs she was holding back.

"Hey, howsit?" he asked.

"Uh, not good Ryan, um I need you and Espo to pick up Alexis and Martha and bring them to Bellevue Hospital."

"What why are you okay Becks?" Espo asked. _He must've picked up the other line _Kate thought.

"Yeah," Beckett choked as her tears fought to surface.

"Kate?" Ryan asked.

"I'll explain when you to bring Martha and Alexis down. I gotta go bye." She hung up just as the fresh tears rolled down her cheeks.

She wiped her face with her long sleeve and walked back to the woman and handed the phone back. Kate said her thanks as she sat down.

"Are you okay?" A little girl behind Kate asked.

Kate bit her lip and nodded. She smiled for the little girl, who smiled back at her.

The faired hair girl moved around and sat down next Kate, swinging her dangling legs. Kate noticed she had a bandage on her head and her arm was in a sling.

"What happed?" Kate asked the little girl.

"I uh, tripped and put one arm out to stop me but I hit my head on the step." The little girl said averting her eyes from Kate.

"Oh I bet that hurt." Kate said knowing the girl was lying but left it at that.

"Yeah it did." She said quietly, "I'm Ella, what's your name." she asked again full of energy.

"I'm Kate."

"Nice to meet you Kate." She said putting her uninjured hand out to shake.

"Nice to meet you too, Ella." Kate said accepting the hand shake.

Ella kept Kate's mind off Rick for a few minutes with an interesting conversation about her dolls that was until her father was done with the paperwork.

"Ella, we are going!" he shouted.

Kate glared at him then looked back at the little girl.

"Bye Kate nice talking to you." Ella stood up and hugged Kate.

Kate was surprised by the affection but responded with a tight squeeze. "Bye Ella, it was nice talking to you too." Kate gave her a small smile.

"Hurry Up!" He shouted again.

"Bye!" Ella said as she ran to her dad.

"Bye." Kate whispered.

What seemed like forever to Kate, Ryan and Esposito arrived with Martha and Alexis.

They all rushed over to Kate, she was the first thing they saw when they entered the waiting room at the front door.

Kate was hunched over, he elbows on her knees and he face was buried in her two hands, which were covered in dry blood.

"Kate!" Alexis called out, "What happened? Where's dad?" she asked panicked.

Kate shot up when she heard her name and straightened herself out and tried to regain as much self-control as she could. Kate took a deep breath and looked at Alexis, Kate wiped at her tear stained face and at her blood shot eyes quickly before answering Alexis.

"He um," Kate whispered, she cleared her throat and continued, "He ran out into the road and was hit by a cab, when I got to the pavement I saw him flipping in the air and landing hard on the pavement. Rick's in surgery now has been for," Kate glanced at her watch, "forty- five minutes, and could be in there for hours." Kate finished by glancing over her shoulder to the elevator where Rick was wheeled in followed by Josh.

Alexis sat down in the seat where Ella sat next to Kate, she was shocked, speechless but one thing she said surprised everyone.

"This is all my fault…" Alexis uttered.

"What? Alexis it is not your fault." Kate said as she brought the girl into a small hug.

But Alexis continued, "It is," she said as she pulled away from the hug, "He ran out of the loft and into the street because of me… it's all my fault and if he dies…" Alexis trailed off, tears choking her the red head ran off into the hospital.

"Alexis!" Martha shouted

"It's okay, we've got this." Esposito said, "Come on bro." He said as they started to walk off into the same direction Alexis went.

"Oh Kate, don't worry my son is a fighter and he is very, very strong. He will get through this." Martha said as she placed a hand over Kate's and squeezed it for comfort.

Kate gave her a small tight lipped grimace as she stared ahead, praying that he was going to be okay, praying that Alexis wasn't going to be too traumatised. Kate felt like she was doing a lot of praying today.

"I hope Alexis is okay…" Kate murmured.

"Okay bro, where do you think Alexis went, that way," Esposito said pointing at one end of a corridor."

"Or that way." Ryan said as he pointed at the opposite end.

"Split up?" Esposito asked his partner.

"Yeah okay. It's not like she's armed." Ryan said.

"Then why do I feel scared?" Espo muttered.

Ryan heard Espo even though he wasn't meant to so Ryan replied as best as he could. "Because teenagers are worse than criminals, with their hormones…" Ryan trailed off.

Esposito held in his chuckle and shook his head as they started to separate, Ryan went right and as he went down the corridor he went past a door leading to the stairs of the hospital, Ryan quickly checked behind him to see how far Esposito was. Esposito was nowhere to be seen so he continued in through the double doors to the stairs.

"If I find Alexis looks like I'm texting Esposito." Ryan said as he started the stairway.

Once Ryan got to the fourth level of the hospital there was still no sign of Alexis. He was about to turn to go back down the stairs when he noticed a small light. In front of him was a partially open door to the roof.

"Please don't do anything stupid." Ryan muttered as he went closer to the door.

Ryan opened the door to and stepped onto the roof.

Ryan decided to go left and as he turned around the corner of the building and there he saw Alexis curled in a ball leaning against the roofs vent standing upright out of the roof.

Ryan slowly approached the red head girl, "Alexis?" he asked softly, trying not to startle her.

Ryan sat down next to Alexis; he pulled his knees into his chest and his arms around his legs keeping them up. Alexis' head raised and Ryan turned to look at her, her face was stained with tears, he cheeks red and her eyes were bloodshot.

"Alexis, this isn't your fault." Ryan started.

Alexis scoffed and closed her eyes as tears started to reach the brim of her eyes. "It is you don't know what happened. He ran out of the loft because of me!" she shouted, the fresh tears falling down her cheeks. Her porcelain face was now red, full of anger towards herself and choking on her sobs.

"Alexis…" Ryan trailed off trying to comfort her.

"Please… don't." she whispered.

"Give me a minute." Ryan said as he stood up. Ryan took his phone out, he pressed speed dial two and placed the phone to his ear as he walked a couple of paces away, but stayed close enough so he could keep an eye on Alexis.

"Hey bro," Esposito answered, "Have you found her?" he asked.

"Yeah she took the stairway to the roof meet me up here?" Ryan asked.

"Sure bro, is she okay?"

"Physically, yes. Emotionally, hell no." Ryan answered.

"Okay I'll be there in a few." Espo said and they hung up.

Ryan walked back to Alexis and resumed his position next to her.

"You know your dad's going to be fine, right?" Ryan asked her

"I hope so."

**This is it please don't kill me all at once. I thought I'd better stop here, you will know if Castle makes it next chapter. Thank you and I hope you all enjoyed this chapter **


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